With its Friday night starter on the mound Sunday, the Hawaii baseball team proved it could hang with national powerhouse Vanderbilt.
A lack of offense kept it from avoiding its first four-game home sweep in six years.
Junior right-hander Cade Halemanu, who missed Friday’s scheduled start with a blister, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and left with out in the sixth and UH ahead a run.
One batter later, Vanderbilt had a 2-1 lead it would hold onto to close out a four-game series sweep in front of a Sunday crowd of 2,741 at Les Murakami Stadium.
Spencer Jones snapped a 1-for-10 skid in the series with a two-run homer to left off UH reliever Harry Gustin, who faced just one better in the sixth.
The fifth-ranked Commodores (10-2) used three relievers to shut out Hawaii (4-8) over the final seven innings, holding the ’Bows to a .143 average (2-for-12) with runners in scoring position to secure the first four-game sweep at the Les by an opposing team since Michigan in 2016.
“I think the offensive execution thing is really going to be a highlight for us this week,” Hawaii coach Rich Hill said. “We responded to a tough day yesterday by playing well. We’ve just got to put all phases together.”
Hawaii was outscored 34-4 and outhit 49-11 in the first three games of the series and showed little resistance to the high-powered Commodores offense until Sunday.
Halemanu flirted with danger for much of the game with four walks and a hit batter, but allowed just one hit, an infield chopper into the hole at short to lead off the fifth.
He was pulled in the sixth inning after issuing a one-out walk on his 80th pitch. Gustin came in and fell behind 3-1 to Jones, who then went the other way out to left for his first homer of the season to put the Commodores in front.
“I’ll be honest, I couldn’t tell you what happened on Friday. I’ve got a short memory that way,” said Jones, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in the opener. “I swung through a slider to start and then he threw a couple more to me and then it was a 3-1 count and I told myself to be ready right here because he was going to challenge me and sure enough he did.”
UH sophomore left-hander Tai Atkins inherited two runners and nobody out in the seventh and managed to throw three scoreless innings to keep Hawaii in the game.
UH left runners in scoring position in three straight innings, including in the sixth when catcher DallasJ Duarte smacked his second double of the game to left field with one out.
Scotty Scott followed with a flare into center that dropped for a base hit. Duarte got a good jump on the ball but held up for a second when center fielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. came charging in and was then held up at third by Hill.
Vanderbilt reliever Christian Little then struck out Stone Miyao and got Cole Cabrera to line out to center to end the threat.
Thomas Schultz pitched the final two innings to earn the save.
“I believe if it was anybody else but that center fielder, I’m gone, I’m home,” Duarte said. “I believe I had a good jump but again, anybody else — he flies, he’s fast as hell, the guy already had one good diving play.”
Hawaii’s Matt Wong doubled inside the bag at third to give UH its first lead of the series when he scored on an errant pickoff throw to first by Vanderbilt starter Nick Maldonado in the second inning for a 1-0 lead.
UH was robbed of a second run when Jordan Donahue barreled a pitch into the right-center gap that Bradfield Jr. made a diving snag of running full speed to end the inning.
That play was still in UH’s mind when Duarte was held at third.
“Dallas got a good jump but it’s tough with Bradfield out there because he could have made a diving catch,” Hill said. “Once Dallas hesitated then I had to pull him up.”
Halemanu finished with four strikeouts and allowed just two balls hit out of the infield in 5 1/3 innings against a Vanderbilt team that compiled 49 hits in the first three games — one of which was only seven innings.
“I felt pretty good. I wasn’t able to throw any curve balls at all,” Halemanu said. “Not being able to throw Friday sucked … but being able to come out here Sunday with people packed in the stands was pretty cool to see.”
UH had more than 10,000 people come through the gates over a three-day span. The ’Bows will stay home for a four-game series against Rutgers beginning Friday.
Halemanu will leave the pitching decision for the opener to his coach.
“That’s up (to) the coaches,” Halemanu said. “If it’s up to me, I’m in.”
