Vanderbilt busts up Hawaii baseball team twice

The fifth-ranked Vanderbilt baseball team made a statement — in bold type — in pounding out Saturday’s 12-1 and 13-1 doubleheader sweep of Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 3,160 witnessed a near perfect game in the opener and a thunderous grand slam in the second game as the Commodores won the first three of this four-game series. Cade Halemanu, who was scratched from Friday’s game because of a blister on his right (pitching) hand is a tentative starter for the Rainbow Warriors in today’s series finale.

“I think failure is a great teacher,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “It can really crystallize that road map to success that you need and where the improvement needs to begin with. We’ll keep cracking rocks. The focus is on patience and immersion in the process, surrendering the result, and that great baseball word — ‘tomorrow.’ ”

Freshman left-hander Carter Holton, who was the Milwaukee Brewers’ 19th-round selection last year, had a perfect game through six innings with only one three-ball count.

“Nobody said anything to me about it, but, of course, it was in the back of my head,” Holton said of the quest for perfection in the seven-inning first game. “There was no real worry about that.”

UH left fielder Scotty Scott broke up the perfect game with a four-pitch walk to open the seventh inning. Center fielder Cole Cabrera followed with a single to right to end Holton’s no-hit bid. Two outs later, Jacob Igawa was struck by a pitch to load the bases. Dallas J Duarte then singled to left to erase the shutout.

Holton allowed two hits and a walk while striking out nine in seven innings.

Holton went through an extensive study session in preparation of the start. He said he felt sharp “leading up to the game and with warmup pitches. I was getting my body to feel right before the game actually started.”

Holton’s repertoire centers on a 96 mph fastball. “I was throwing all four pitches for strikes,” Holton said, “and that helped me throw to contact, and let the defense work around me.”

In support, Carter Young and Tate Kolwyck smacked home runs for the Commodores. Young’s drive cleared both fences in right field and landed on Lower Campus Road. Young, a shortstop, is rated as one of the top 30 draft prospects.

In the second game, Vanderbilt’s Patrick Reilly and UH’s Buddie Pindel were locked in a 1-all pitcher’s duel. It was the first start of the season for Reilly, who entered with 16 strikeouts in eight innings of relief. Reilly exited after allowing four hits in four innings.

In the Vanderbilt sixth, Koali‘i Pontes replaced Harry Gustin, UH’s second pitcher, with runners on first and second. Pontes relinquished a single to Dominic Keegan, who went 4-for-4, to load the bases. Then 5-foot-9, 151-pound Javier Vaz pulled a drive over the fence in right field for a grand slam and a 5-1 Vanderbilt lead.

Batting coach Mike Baxter “told me (Pontes) was a traditional guy, 90-92 (mph),” Vaz said. “He told me to look for a first-pitch fastball, and that’s what I did, and I hammered it. I just put a good swing on it and not try to do too much.”

Hill said: “We went right to our stopper, Koali‘i Pontes, right in that moment even thought it was the sixth inning. We went our best, and it didn’t work out.”

The Commodores scored four more runs in the sixth and did not look back.