Hawaii opens Big West play with win in 10 innings

The Cal Poly baseball team blinked first.

Hawaii took advantage of a Mustangs error to score the decisive run in Friday’s 1-0 victory at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

“That was a great one, right?” said UH coach Rich Hill, whose Rainbow Warriors improved to 8-7 by winning the Big West opener. The Mustangs fell to 3-12 and 0-1.

It was scoreless through nine innings when Jared Quandt drew a walk — his third of the game — with two outs in the 10th. Jacob Igawa then hit a towering opposite-field drive to right. Freshman Wyatt King dropped the ball as Quandt sprinted around for the game’s only run.

“Quandt’s got some good speed, and he just took off,” Hill said of the third-year sophomore. “He’s motoring the whole time.”

Left-hander Connor Harrison pitched a scoreless 10th for his third save. “Connor Harrison has the guts of a burglar,” Hill said.

It was the first shutout of the season for the ’Bows, whose three pitchers allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out 11. The Mustangs stranded 10, and went 0-for-16 with runners on base. In the 10th, Ryan Stafford drew a one-out walk, stole second and never advanced as Harrison retired the final two batters.

Left-hander Harry Gustin’s fourth UH start of the season was his best. In 52⁄3 innings, Gustin spaced five hits and a walk while striking out six. He exited after allowing a hit and walk a with two outs in the sixth, then throwing a pitch outside the zone to Aaron Casillas. Alex Giroux completed the walk to Casillas to load the bases but induced King to hit into an inning-ending groundout.

“It was great to see Harry Gustin come of age,” Hill said. “That was the best we’ve seen him.”

Giroux continued to excel as a reliever, pitching 31⁄3 scoreless innings. In four relief appearances, Giroux has a 0.57 ERA and 0.64 WHIP. “Alex Giroux did his thing again,” Hill said.

Hill knew opportunities would be scarce against Cal Poly starter Bryce Warrecker, who was named the 2022 Cape Cod League’s most outstanding pitcher. With one out and Stone Miyao on first in the second inning, DallasJ Duarte pulled a drive to left. Hill, who was in the third-base box, waved home Miyao.

“I thought we were going to have a hard time scoring runs against Warrecker,” Hill said. “I spun Stone around with one out, and he got thrown out by 10 feet.”

In the fourth, Kyson Donahue hit a leadoff single, then was thrown out at third on Matt Wong’s single to left.

“With no outs, it’s no chances,” Hill said. “You just don’t want to make the first out at third base. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and work on that.”

In the fifth, Matt Miura doubled to left, then advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. But Warrecker struck out the next three ’Bows.

“That’s Big West pitching, where it’s all backward — heavy changeup cutter, breaking ball,” Hill said. “You just don’t get a fastball in a leverage count We’ll figure some things out.”

Because of heavy rain forecast for Sunday, it was decided to make that game part of a doubleheader today to complete the three-game series. On Friday morning, Cal Poly coach Larry Lee texted Hill with the suggested move. “He’s born and raised here, so he knows the weather pretty good,” Hill said. “He thought it was going to be miserable all day Sunday. … Might as well being assured getting two in. Nobody wants to play a doubleheader, but we also want to get three games in.”

First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.