Face-to-face with a series of adversity, the Hawaii baseball team proved to be as cool as Freon.
Coach Rich Hill said his Rainbow Warriors did not “flinch” in overcoming a 3-1 deficit and then riding gritty relief pitching to defeat Cal State Bakersfield 5-4 at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 2,565 saw the ’Bows escape jams in the eighth and ninth innings to deliver Hill his 1,200th career victory. He is the youngest active 1,200-game winner.
A day after losing 6-5 to CSUB on Kaiser alumnus Brock Perreira’s 10th-inning homer, the ’Bows rebounded with a four-run sixth to erase a 3-1 deficit.
Cory Ronan and Freddy Rodriguez combined to allow one run and four hits in the final 4 2/3 innings to even the three-game series at one apiece. The ’Bows improved to 27-14 overall and 11-12 in the Big West. The Roadrunners are 17-28 and 8-12. First pitch for today’s series finale will be at 1:05 p.m.
“To come back today, down 3-1, just didn’t flinch,” Hill said. “Took quality at-bats. Put up that four spot. I thought Cory was huge. And I thought Freddy was as good as he looked. And I thought Cooper (Walls, UH’s starting pitcher) was good, too. That third time around the order they got to (Walls) a little bit. It was a great team effort.”
In the UH sixth, Jared Quandt led off with a double and then stole third base. Two outs and two relief pitchers later, Hill gave Hunter Faildo the bunt sign. And then again. And then a third and fourth time. Faildo placed a bunt along the third-base line for a single as Quandt raced home to close the ’Bows to 3-2.
“I was trying to put it in a good place and give me a chance to beat it out at first base and get that runner home,” Faildo said. “I thought off the bat I had a shot. It was a slider, which is hard (to bunt). But it was over the plate, and I thought I could handle it. I tried to put it in a good spot. I heard it was pretty good. But I never saw it. My head was down when I was running (to first).”
After Matt Miura walked, Shunsuke Sakaino, Ben Zeigler-Namoa and Itsuki Takemoto had back-to-back-to-back RBI hits to boost the ’Bows to a 5-3 lead.
“Hunter’s bunt was huge,” Zeigler-Namoa said. “It definitely has a chance for magic moment tomorrow. Watching that gave us energy and propelled us.”
Ronan allowed one hit in three scoreless innings before exiting with a runner on and one out in the eighth.
“I was trying to throw strikes, throw hard,” said the left-handed Ronan, who complemented a fastball with changeup, curve and slider. “That was my mindset out there.”
Rodriguez yielded a single to Elijah Pelayo. A wild pitch advanced Tyler Leroy to third and Pelayo to second with one out. Hill decided not to intentionally walk Cody Hendriks to create forces at all the bases.
“I didn’t really have that fastball in the beginning,” Rodriguez said. “I went to the change-up, and the changeup was working. It felt good to have teammates behind me saying: ‘You’re good, go get it, we’ve got you no matter what happens.”
Rodriguez fought back from a 2-1 count to strike out Hendriks. Rodriguez then induced Lewis Barnum V to hit a flyout to left to end the eighth.
In the ninth, Perreira went into the batter’s box with two outs and Noah Alvarez on second. Perreira drove a 1-2 pitch up the middle to bring home Alvarez and close the Roadrunners to 5-4.
“My teammates reassured me again,” Rodriguez recalled. “They said: ‘Let’s go, get the last one. It’s all you.’ With the support from them, with all the confidence in the world. I went out there to compete and get that win.”
Nick Mascaro popped up to second to end the game.
“I feel a lot of our games lately have been tense,” said Faildo, who caught the final three innings. “But I trust our guys, and Freddy was great tonight.”
