Hawaii baseball in position to end season with series sweep

Spoiler alert.

The Hawaii baseball team chipped, chipped and then broke through for Friday night’s 8-5 victory over UC Santa Barbara at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Gauchos entered the season-ending, three-game series needing to win at least two to keep alive their hopes of earning the Big West’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. But the ’Bows blew out the Gauchos 17-1 in Thursday’s opener and rallied on Friday to clinch the series.

The outcome dropped the Gauchos to 18-11 in the Big West. UC San Diego, which is ineligible for the postseason while transitioning to Division I, finished the regular season at 21-9. Cal State Fullerton is 20-9 with a game to go. The ’Bows improved to 28-20 overall and 17-12 in the Big West entering tonight’s season finale.

The Gauchos have the league’s most powerful offense, beginning the week with 84 home runs in the first 52 games. But the ’Bows, who had 18 hits on Thursday, cobbled an attack with timely hits and attentive base-running. They scored on a passed ball, a wild pitch and a balk.

Second baseman Stone Miyao also stretched his hitting streak to nine games when he smacked a solo homer to spark a four-run sixth and extend the ’Bows’ lead to 8-3. It was Miyao’s first home run since May 7, 2022.

“It felt good,” Miyao said. “I tried to stick with the approach throughout the whole game, and it worked out.”

The ’Bows scored two runs in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. Jordan Donahue reached second when third baseman Zander Darby made a diving stop, then threw wide of first baseman LeTrey McCollum. Catcher Aaron Parker could not secure Hudson Barrett’s breaking pitch as Donahue sprinted non-stop from second to tie it at 3.

“I was just looking at Coach Rich (Hill), and he was waving, so I kept on going,” said Donahue, who can sprint 60 yards in 6.5 seconds.

DallasJ Duarte walked, went to second on Miyao’s groundout, and scored on Jacob Igawa’s single to give the ’Bows the lead for the first time of the night.

A night after UH’s Harry Gustin and Alex Giroux each struck out nine, left-handed pitchers Randy Abshier and Harrison Bodendorf combined to fan 17 Gauchos.

“I’ll take that any day of the week,” Hill said. “They’ve seen a lot of lefties, pitching inside, mixing with a changeup. Randy kicked it into gear after that (three-run) first inning. We all have a choice when you get punched in the gut. You pull the sheets over your head and quit or … get after it. And that’s exactly what Randy did.”

Abshier did not allow a run in the next four innings to improve to 6-3. Bodendorf earned his fifth save.

“You’ve got to fight back,” Abshier said. “You can’t give up.”

It took four batters for the Gauchos to seize a 3-0 lead. Jared Sundstrom reached on Donahue’s error to open the game, then went to third on Ivan Brethowr’s single through the right side vacated by a shift. One out later, Christian Kirtley bashed a three-run homer over the fence in right field.

The ’Bows closed to 3-1 in the second inning when Sean Rimmer walked and, two outs later, sprinted home on Duarte’s double to right

In the UH third, Matt Wong hit a grounder and out-raced first baseman McCollum to the bag for a single. Pinch hitter Tai Walton singled to right, setting up Rimmer’s RBI single to center to cut the deficit to 3-2. Rimmer, who started in left field, was making only his second appearance in 35 days.