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Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso ran out of words, left fielder Tyler Best ran out of real estate, and the Rainbow Warriors ran out of good fortune in a disheartening 7-5 loss to second-ranked Vanderbilt at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tenn.
“Disappointing … frustrating … ” Trapasso said after Isaiah Thomas cracked a three-run drive over the wall in left-center in the 11th inning to deliver the Commodores’ second victory in this three-game series.
The ’Bows were poised for a second consecutive upset after Matt Wong’s solo homer tied it at 3 in the seventh inning, and Adam Fogel and Alex Baeza added RBIs in the two-run 11th.
But before the start of Vanderbilt’s 11th, Vince Reilly, who had pitched a scoreless 10th inning, was pulled.
“He wasn’t throwing well,” Trapasso said of Reilly, who threw strikes on half of his 12 pitches. “He was over-throwing.”
Trapasso, who doubles as the pitching coach, welcomed back Carter Loewen, who earned the save in UH’s 3-1 victory on Saturday.
This time, Loewen gave up an inning-opening single to Cooper Davis. Cooper then scooted to second on Loewen’s wild pitch. One out later, Austin Martin singled up the middle to bring home Cooper and cut the margin to 5-4.
Another out later, Dominic Keegan drew a walk.
“Carter felt fine,” Trapasso said of Loewen, who can consistently throw fastballs in the 92-mph range. It is a heater most effective when balanced with a cutter.
“He just stopped throwing his cutter for strikes,” Trapasso said. “We had to go fastball, and it was a mistake. Should have stayed with the cutter. But he threw six (cutters) in a row for balls.”
Thomas left no doubts when he pulled a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left-center. In this slug-it-out fight, Trapasso said, “they got the last blow. Credit goes to them. Credit goes to Thomas. He hit it out.”
The outcome, which dropped the ’Bows to 8-5, overshadowed some otherwise gritty performances.
Brandon Ross, making his third UH start, allowed three hits and his first earned run of the season in 31⁄3 innings. Thomas hit a solo home run in the fourth on Ross’ 221st pitch of the season.
Jeremy Wu-Yelland, UH’s third hurler, pitched four nail-nibbling innings. Wu-Yelland worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning, stranded two runners in the seventh, and relied on right fielder Scotty Scott’s diving catch in the ninth.
“He was great,” Trapasso said of Wu-Yelland. “He pitched great. We played great. But we just didn’t finish up.”
Scott went 3-for-5, shortstop Kole Kaler scored two runs, and Fogel drove in two.
Trapasso said Ross did enough to remain in the starting rotation behind Logan Pouelsen and Aaron Davenport. Trapasso said he has not determined the final starter for the coming four-game series against Oregon that begins on Thursday night. “We’re going to see what’s up,” Trapasso said. “Ross will throw in the three-hole on Saturday.”
As for finishing 1-2 against the defending national champs, Trapasso said, “we should have won, and it’s disappointing. But you can’t let one bad inning spoil a good weekend of baseball. Hopefully, we’ll learn from that. We should have won, but we didn’t. We just have to get ready for Oregon.”
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