Hawaii baseball pounds Santa Barbara

Center fielder Matt Wong started off senior week with a blast — two, in fact — and Hawaii struck out 18 UC Santa Barbara batters in Thursday’s 17-1 baseball rout at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 1,527 saw Wong hit two home runs; shortstop Jordan Donahue amass four hits and drive in three runs; Harry Gustin strike out a career-high nine in five innings, and reliever Alex Giroux fan the first eight Gauchos he faced. The ’Bows piled up 18 hits, drew 10 walks against six pitchers, and took advantage of three UCSB errors, including two on one play to plate two runners in a five-run sixth.

By winning the opener of a season-ending, three-game series, the Rainbow Warriors improved to 27-20 overall and 16-12 in the Big West. They clinched their second consecutive winning conference season, having sub-.500 records in their first nine years of Big West membership.

The ’Bows also were spoilers, denying UCSB a shot at the Big West’s regular-season title. The Gauchos fell to 35-18 and 18-10, and are mathematically eliminated from catching idle UC San Diego (21-9) on the last week of the Big West season. Because UCSD is ineligible for the postseason while in the transitional period to Division I, the Gauchos still have a chance to secure the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament if they finish as runners-up. Cal State Fullerton is second at 19-9, and holds the tiebreaker over the Gauchos.

Because of medical hardships and the COVID-19 exemption, Wong, who missed two seasons because of ACL injuries, was allowed to return to UH for his sixth season. He made a loud impact to open his final homestand as a ’Bow.

Wong smacked his ninth home run of the season to lead off the ’Bows’ six-run second inning. Wong opened the third with his 10th homer. The last UH player with double-digit home runs was first baseman/designated hitter Jeff Van Doornum in 2010.

The ’Bows were able to out-power an opponent leading the league in home runs (84) and solve a pitching staff that entered the week with the nation’s fifth-best ERA (3.76). Matt Ager, who moved into the ace’s role, had a 2.57 ERA, held opposing batters to a .198 average, and racked up 11.18 strikeouts per nine innings in his first 14 starts.

In the first inning, Ager retired the first three ’Bows on 13 pitches to preserve a 1-0 lead. But then Wong’s opposite-field homer to right to open the UH second appeared to pull the string that unraveled Ager.

Aaron Ujimori singled home a run and DallasJ Duarte hit a two-run single up the middle to make it 4-1. Ager then unleashed a wild pitch that sailed all the way to the backstop as Donahue coasted home from third with the ’Bows’ fifth run. Stone Miyao’s RBI single forced Ager’s earliest ouster (1 1/3 innings) of the season.

Wong’s second homer of the game, also over the fence in right field, sparked a three-run third to extend the ’Bows’ lead to 9-1. Donahue’s ground-rule double brought home a run and Duarte, after an appeal, was ruled to have beaten a throw to first for an RBI single.

Gustin allowed six hits and struck out a career-high nine in the first five innings to improve to 5-3. After Aaron Parker’s bases-loaded single gave the Gauchos a 1-0 lead in the first, Gustin induced an inning-ending double play. In the second, the Gauchos filled the bases with two outs. But Gustin struck out Christian Kirtley to end the threat without any damage. After issuing a leadoff walk to Evan Brethowr in the third, Gustin retired the next nine Gauchos — five on strikeouts — before Parker’s single to start the sixth.