Jared Quandt scored the winning run in the 13th inning on a balk-off play in the Hawaii baseball team’s 2-1 victory over UC Davis at Les Murakami Stadium.
Quandt drew a walk from Carter Delaney to open the UH 13th. Two outs later, Kedren Kinzie singled to left and Quandt sprinted to third. Shortstop Jordan Donahue, who was 4-for-5, was intentionally walked to load the bases. That brought up David Vergel de Dios, the third UH catcher.
Vergel de Dios fell behind 0-and-2. Then UH head coach Rich Hill, who was in the third base coach’s box, told Quandt to break for home.
“We call it ‘steal home,’” Hill said of the play.
The right-handed Delaney, watching Quandt break for home, did not pause before firing to the plate. Vergel de Dios fouled off the pitch as catcher Riley Acosta moved forward to make a play on the sliding Quandt. But home plate umpire Dax Upton yelled, “balk!” Quandt, who appeared to hurt his left shoulder on the slide, went into thetrainer’s room for treatment while the rest of the ’Bows stormed the field in celebration.
“Rich just decided to take a chance and told me to go,” Quandt said. “I went. … I was booking it as fast I can. I didn’t see anything. … It was fun. It definitely was a unique play. It was good to be on the right side of it.”
Vergel de Dios said he wasn’t told Quandt was attempting to steal. “I didn’t hear anything,” he said. “I just saw he was coming home.”
In sweeping the three-game series, the ’Bows improved to 17-5 overall and 6-3 in the Big West. They won their ninth consecutive home series. The Aggies fell to 11-10 and 3-3.
Isaiah Magdaleno threw seven shutout innings of two-hit relief to keep the ’Bows in contention.
“The adrenaline, honestly,” Magadaleno said of his 76-pitch outing. “I wanted to win for the team. Just going out and doing what I can. That’s about it. All I can do.”
Both teams were unable to redeem scoring opportunities in the eighth inning. With Aggies at the corners with no outs, Magdaleno struck out Nick Leehey. Acosta’s squeeze attempt was fielded by Magdaleno, who fired to catcher Hunter Faildo, who tagged out Jaxon Murphy racing from third. Alex Gouveia lined out to right fielder Quandt to end the threat.
The ’Bows failed to score in the bottom of the eighth when Itsuki Takemoto grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Aggies had changed their pitching rotation in the hope of changing their fortunes. A day after being trounced 16-0, the Aggies gave the start to left-handed senior Bryan Green.
In four of six previous starts, Green was the Aggies’ series-opening starting pitcher. But coach Tommy Nicholson shuffled the rotation, moving Green to Monday’s finale of the three-game series. Because the start of the series was pushed back to Saturday because of UCD’s final-exam schedule, Green was pitching on 10 days’ rest.
As one of the Aggies’ top pro prospects, Green was expected to be selected in last year’s Major League Baseball draft. When he was not picked, he returned to the Aggies as their ace. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound senior did not disappoint. Green pitched six scoreless innings, allowing five hits, walking one, and striking out nine. He threw 106 pitches, matching a season high.
Keenan Anzai replaced Green at the start of the UH seventh and lasted only five batters. With two outs, Donahue grounded a single to right, then stole second base. Left-swinging Aidan Kuni, pinch-hitting for catcher Konnor Palmeira, then singled up the middle to bring home Donahue and tie it at 1-all.
The Aggies scored the game’s first run in the first inning. Tyler Howard led off with a single to right. Two outs later, Howard went to third on Leehey’s single to left. Acosta followed with an RBI single to center.
UH third baseman Elijah Ickes, who was injured in Sunday’s game, will miss an undetermined number of games. Tests showed he had fractures in his left (non-throwing) hand. Xaige Lancaster started at third on Monday, with Draven Nushida moving there in the eighth inning.
Hawaii plays host to UH Hilo on Tuesday night before hitting the road for a three-game series at Cal State Northridge starting Friday.
