Rain, altered schedules and UC Santa Barbara’s big-inning offense resulted in the Hawaii baseball team’s winless weekend at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on the UCSB campus.
A crowd of 510 saw the Gauchos defeat the Rainbow Warriors 6-2 on Sunday to complete the sweep of the three-game Big West series.
“It never feels good to lose,” said head coach Rich Hill, whose ’Bows went 3-4 on this 11-day trip to drop to 19-14 overall and 4-8 in the Big West. “It never feels good.”
Because of forecasts for heavy rain, Friday’s start was moved up an hour while Saturday’s game was delayed three hours and Sunday’s start pushed back two hours. In each, the Gauchos produced statement-making innings. On Friday, they scored six runs in the second inning. On Saturday, they combined for five runs in their final three innings to break a 5-all tie.
On Sunday, the Gauchos scored all six runs in the first inning.
UH starting pitcher Danny Veloz struggled early as the Gauchos loaded the bases in the first when Aaron Parker drew a leadoff walk and Brendan Durfee and Ivan Brethowr were hit by pitches. Nick Oakley hit a two-run single. Zander Darby drew a walk to refill the bases. One out later, Justin Trimble smacked a grand slam to make it 6-0. It was Trimble’s seventh homer of the season.
The ’Bows got on the board in the fourth when Austin Machado reached on Trimble’s error at third, went to second on a Kyson Donahue double and came home on Matthew Miura’s groundout to second.
In the fifth, Jordan Donahue’s single plated Stone Miyao to cut the UH deficit to 6-2.
But the ’Bows could get no closer against Tyler Bremner and Cole Tryba. The Gauchos entered the season projecting Matt Ager, who was a member of Team USA, as the ace. But Ager, who was inconsistent during non-league play, moved to the bullpen. Bremner became the third starter behind Ryan Gallagher and Mike Gutierrez.
On Sunday, Bremner allowed four hits and two runs — only one earned — in seven innings to improve to 6-0.
“They’ve adjusted well,” Hill said. “Moving Bremner into the rotation has worked.”
Tryba pitched two scoreless innings.
Hill praised reliever Sebastian Gonzalez, who replaced Veloz to get the final out of the second inning.
“Accentuating the bright spots, obviously Sebastian was outstanding,” Hill said. “It was great to see him take a step forward.”
Gonzalez allowed two hits in 61⁄3 scoreless innings. He retired 12 in a row between the fifth and eighth innings.
“He’s just maturing, like a lot of freshmen do,” Hill said. “And he’s really doing it with (a fastball). When he gets a real command of that breaking ball and has good speed differential on his changeup, he’s going to go to the different level. It’s fun to see.”
Kyson Donahue is hitting .372 in 12 Big West games. He had two of the ’Bows’ five hits. “It’s a tribute to his mental toughness,” Hill said of Donahue’s success.
The ’Bows return to Honolulu today ahead of Tuesday’s game against Chaminade at Les Murakami Stadium. They resume Big West play this weekend against Cal Poly.
“We’re ready,” Hill said. “No excuses. We’re not tired. We can go another 100 miles.”
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UC Irvine 11 4 .733 — 25 7
CS Northridge 8 3 .727 2 19 13
Cal Poly 10 4 .714 1
2 19 14
UCSB 8 4 .667 11
2 21 10
UCSD 10 5 .667 2 23 11
CS Bakersfield 6 8 .429 41
2 11 23
UC Davis 5 7 .417 41
2 16 17
!-LBSU 5 9 .357 51
2 17 14
Hawaii 4 8 .333 51
2 19 14
CS Fullerton 510 .333 61
2 12 20
UC Riverside 111 .083 81
2 10 21
!-does not include one tie
Sunday
x-UC Davis 6, Abilene Christian 5
Cal State Fullerton 4, UC Riverside 3
UC San Diego 10, UC Irvine 9
UC Santa Barbara 6, Hawaii 2
UC Riverside 9, Cal State Fullerton 6
x-non-conference game
Today
Cal State Bakersfield at Cal Poly, noon
Long Beach State at CS Northridge, noon
UC SANTA BARBARA 6, HAWAII 2
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO
J. Donahue ss 4 0 1 1 0 2
Tsukada lf 4 0 0 0 0 2
Machado dh 4 1 0 0 0 1
K. Donahue 1b 4 0 2 0 0 1
Miura cf 4 0 1 1 0 0
Zeigler-Namoa rf 3 0 0 0 0 0
Calderon ph 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miyao 2b 4 1 1 0 0 2
Duarte c 3 0 0 0 0 0
Ickes 3b 2 0 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 32 2 5 2 1 8
GAUCHOS AB R H BI BB SO
Parker c 3 1 1 0 1 1
Durfee 1b 3 1 1 0 0 0
McCollum 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brethowr rf 2 1 0 0 1 2
Calvin rf 0 0 0 0 0 0
Oakley 2b 4 1 1 2 0 0
Darby dh 3 1 1 0 1 1
Sebring cf 3 0 0 0 0 1
Trimble 3b 3 1 1 4 0 1
Brown lf 2 0 0 0 0 1
Mendez ss 3 0 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 26 6 5 6 3 8
Hawaii (19-14, 4-8) 000 110 000 — 2 5 1
UCSB (21-10, 8-4) 600 000 00x — 6 5 1
E–Duarte; Durfee. 2B–K. Donahue. SH–
Calderon. HR–Trimble. SB–Miura.
CI–Duarte.DP–Hawaii 1. CS–Durfee.
HBP–Durfee; Brethowr; Sebring; Trimble.
PO–Darby. Reached on CI–Brown.
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Veloz (L, 4-1) 12
3 3 6 6 3 3
Gonzalez 61
3 2 0 0 0 5
UCSB IP H R ER BB SO
Bremmer (W, 6-0) 7 4 2 1 1 5
Tryba 2 1 0 0 0 3
HBP–by Veloz (Durfee, Brethowr); by Gonzalez (Trimble, Sebring).CI–Duarte.
Umpires—(Plate): Joe Maiden. (First): Bradley Hungerford. (Second): Greg Charles.
(Third): Gary DiFabio. T—3:05. A–510.
