Unfazed by a hectic travel itinerary, the Hawaii baseball team produced Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over Santa Clara at Stephen Schott Stadium on the SCU campus in Northern Califormia.
Seven UH pitchers combined on a three-hitter and outfielder Kamana Nahaku drove in two runs to boost the Rainbow Warriors in the opener of an eight-game, two-week road trip.
“That was an outstanding performance by our pitchers,” UH head coach Rich Hill said of his staff’s 11 strikeouts against three walks. “And then the timely hitting. All around, great performance. And no errors. That’s a good Tuesday win. To do that on the road at midweek is always good.”
After falling to Long Beach State in Sunday’s series finale at Les Murakami Stadium, the ’Bows departed Honolulu on Monday morning.
“Rest is overrated,” Hill said in a telephone interview. “This is like the Red Sox going to the Dodgers. Those guys savor these type of games. All they had to do was sit on a plane (on Monday) and cruise.”
The ’Bows tied it at 3 when Matthew Miura opened the fifth inning with a single, went to second on Ben Zeigler-Namoa’s single, and found his way home on back-to-back groundouts to the right side.
In the seventh, Zeigler-Namoa doubled to left-center, continued to third on a throwing error, and gave the ’Bows a 4-3 lead on Jared Quandt’s sacrifice fly.
“That was a good job by Ben,” Hill said of Zeigler-Namoa breaking to third when shortstop Ben Cleary’s relay throw sailed past an uncovered second base.
In the eighth, UH designated hitter Draven Nushida pulled a double to right field. Hunter Faildo put down a bunt. Third baseman Niko Olson’s throw pulled first baseman Dylan Joyce off the bag. But the umpires ruled that Faildo ran outside the base path to first, obstructing Joyce’s view. Faildo was called out, and Nushida had to return to second base.
When Jace Gillmore’s pitch bounced in the dirt, Nushida broke for third, where he was called safe. With the infielders moving up, Miura pulled a grounder between Olson and the third-base bag for a double and Nushida came home with the insurance run.
“Maybe the play of the game was Draven Nushida on the ball in the dirt,” Hill said. “He wasn’t scared (to run to third). He got a good safe call at third base that allowed us to bring the infield in a little bit and get that double.”
In what was deemed a “staff” game, in which multiple pitchers were scheduled to play, the ’Bows’ bullpen dominated after reliever Zac Tenn relinquished Joyce’s three-run homer in the third inning. After that, Tenn, Anthony Andrews, Max Jones and Ethan Thomas retired the next 15 Broncos in a row.
In the ninth, the Broncos placed runners at first and second with two outs. But Thomas struck out pinch hitter Max Ross on three pitches for his second save of the season.
“It was really nice to see Max Jones have a coming-out party,” said Hill, referencing Jones retiring all six batters he faced, striking out three, in the sixth and seventh innings. “And Ethan Thomas, the same thing. A bunch of strikeouts in the eighth and ninth.”
After the game, the ’Bows flashed the “shaka hammah” sign to their supporters among the crowd estimated at 500.
“We had a bigger crowd than they did,” Hill said. “Rainbow fans travel great. “It was great to see all the green and orange in the stands.”
The ’Bows continue this two-week road trip with a three-game series against Cal Poly starting Friday. The Mustangs have won all 12 of their Big West games.
HAWAII 5, SANTA CLARA 3
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO LOB
Sakaino 2b 5 0 2 0 0 2 2
Miura cf 3 2 2 1 2 0 2
Zeigler-Namoa 1b 5 1 2 0 0 2 1
Quandt rf 3 1 0 1 1 1 0
Nahaku lf 4 0 1 2 1 2 2
Donahue ss 4 0 0 1 1 1 1
Lancaster 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 2
Kinzie 3b 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
Nushida dh 2 1 1 0 2 0 0
Vergel de Dios c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Faildo ph/c 4 0 1 0 0 0 0
Totals 34 5 9 5 7 10 11
BRONCOS AB R H BI BB SO LOB
Garcia lf 2 1 0 0 2 1 0
Cleary ss 3 0 0 0 1 1 0
Joyce 1b 4 1 1 3 0 2 1
Williams 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 1
Cunningham ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Carston c 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luetzow ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Medicoff dh 2 0 0 0 0 1 0
Jng-Gldbrg ph/dh 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Smith ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Devine cf/rf 4 0 2 0 0 0 0
Lambert rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rayment cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 1
Ross ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2
Olson 3b 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
Frrggiaro ph/3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 30 3 3 3 4 11 5
Hawaii 002 010 110 — 5 9 0
Santa Clara 003 000 000 — 3 3 1
Records: Hawaii 23-8, Santa Clara 13-16
E—Cleary. LOB—Hawaii 11, Santa Clara 5.
2B—Sakaino, Miura, Zeigler-Namoa,
Nushida, Devine. HR—Joyce. SF—Quandt.
SB—Miura
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Ronan 1 0 0 0 1 0
Adamson 1 1 0 0 0 1
Dobyns 0 0 2 2 2 0
Tenn 2 1 1 1 0 2
Andrews 1 0 0 0 0 1
Jones (W 1-0) 2 0 0 0 0 3
Thomas (S, 2) 2 1 0 0 1 4
SANTA CLARA IP H R ER BB SO
Johnson 1 1 0 0 1 2
Schreiber 11
⁄3 1 2 2 3 3
Braga 2 3 1 1 0 0
Lazark 12
⁄3 1 0 0 1 0
Habermann (L 0-1) 1 1 1 0 1 0
Gillmore 1 2 1 1 0 2
Meyn 1 0 0 0 1 3
WP—Schreiber, Gillmore, Meyn. HBP—by
Thomas (Luetzow). Umpires—HP: Greg
Charles. 1B: Barney Navarro. 3B: Ricardo
Rodriguez. T—3:07. A—500.
