Rainbows rally in ninth to beat USC on the road
Ben Zeigler-Namoa’s two-run single in the ninth inning boosted the Hawaii baseball team to Tuesday’s 5-4 victory over USC in Los Angeles.
The game was played before 498 at Page Stadium on the Loyola Marymount campus because Dedeaux Field, USC’s usual home venue, is being renovated.
The change of site still followed a now familiar pattern for the Rainbow Warriors. It was the ninth time the ’Bows won when being tied or trailing entering the ninth. The ’Bows are 3-2 on this eight-game road trip. They play UC Irvine in Thursday’s opener of a three-game Big West series.
The Trojans took a 4-3 lead on shortstop Bryce Grudzielanek’s grand slam, the only hit starter Zac Tenn allowed in 2 2/3 innings.
With one out in the UH ninth, Konnor Palmeira reached on an error. Jarret “JJ” Nielsen, who pinch-ran for Palmeira, went to second when Shunsuke Sakaino was struck by a pitch. One out later, the left-swinging Zeigler-Namoa stepped into the batter’s box. A wild pitch advanced Nielsen and Sakaino to third and second. Zeigler-Namoa then smacked left-hander Sax Matson’s 1-0 pitch to left as Nielsen and Sakaino raced home with the tying and go-ahead runs.
“This ballpark is made for him,” UH coach Rich Hill said of Zeigler-Namoa, who also hit a solo home run to center for a 3-0 lead in the third inning. “He’s got such great opposite-field power. Early in the game, the wind howls out from the West here. He crushed that ball. That’s out at a lot of different places. They chose to pitch to him in the ninth with (first) base open, and he got a fastball and put a good swing on it.”
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The Trojans left the bases loaded without scoring a run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. In the ninth, pinch runner Wes Hickey was on second with two outs. But Ethan Thomas, the fifth UH pitcher, induced Jack Basseer to ground out to third to end the threat.
“It’s a real testament to the guts of those pitchers,” Hill said of Tenn, Charlie Adamson, Max Jones and Thomas. “All of them tonight, I thought, had the guts of a burglar.”
