’Bows baseball race past Roadrunners for 11-4 victory

Heavy rainfall pushed back Sunday’s first pitch 30 minutes.

But without further delay, relief pitcher Liam O’Brien and catcher Hunter Faildo helped the Hawaii baseball team storm to an 11-4 victory over Cal State Bakersfield at Les Murakami Stadium.

Before a crowd of 2,010, O’Brien allowed one hit and struck out seven in 4 2/3 innings to earn his third victory in five decisions. Faildo, who entered as a defensive replacement in the top of the third, smacked a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning. It was Faildo’s first homer since summer ball last July.

By winning their second in a row, the ’Bows took the three-game series to improve to 28-14 overall and 12-12 in the Big West. The Roadrunners fell to 17-29 and 8-13. The ’Bows play host to Oregon State, ranked third last week, in Friday’s opener of a four-game series.

O’Brien’s struggles led to losing his spot in the ’Bows’ starting rotation two weeks ago. With guidance from head coach Rich Hill and pitching coach Keith Zuniga, O’Brien worked on taming a fastball that topped at 97 mph and controlling his emotions. O’Brien appeared to gain confidence in a two-inning, no-run start against Chaminade on Tuesday. He was summoned in Sunday’s second inning with Roadrunners on second and third with one out.

O’Brien hit Elijah Pelayo to load the bases, then hit Evan Cloyd to tie it at 2-all. Noah Alvarez’s squeeze bunt gave the Roadrunners a 3-2 lead.

“I probably was nervous going up there,” he said of the two hit batsmen. “I was like, ‘whatever.’ I took a breath, reset, didn’t let it spiral out of control, and managed to get in my groove.”

After that, O’Brien mystified the CSUB batters with a 95-mph fastball and a pattern-breaking, 85-mph curve. He struck out the side in the third and fifth innings. He exited after the sixth inning with the ’Bows ahead 10-3. “It was nice and effortless,” O’Brien said of his 74 pitches, 41 for strikes. “I was really smooth, trying to throw it through the catcher.”

Of O’Brien’s resurgence, Hill said: “I mean, that’s announcing his presence with authority. He’s put the work in. He’s really worked with (strength/conditioning coordinator) Josh Elms and our mental strength coach (Freddiy Sandoval) and really put in the work to try to get himself out (there). And obviously he did today. That was huge.”

O’Brien said he fell “into a hole mentally” during his struggles as a starting pitcher. “Just like anxiety and stuff like that, I guess,” he said. “I managed to work through it and not let it consume me and take me down. I’m taking it day by day, just getting back to where I was. It’s going really well.”

O’Brien said deep-breath techniques and visualization helped him regain focus. “All of that stuff, I think, is scientifically researched,” he said. “I do a lot of breathing (techniques) to reset. All of that stuff works.”

Ethan Thomas, the third UH pitcher, allowed a run in two innings. A day after earning a five-out save, Freddy Rodriguez was back on the mound, this time pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

“It felt good to go back out there in the ninth and get the win,” Rodriguez said. On Saturday, Rodriguez relied mostly on a change-up. On Sunday. he said, “it was getting ahead with that fastball, and it worked out. The slider was biting as well. I don’t think I threw a change-up today.”

Faildo, Konnor Palmeira and David Vergel de Dios are part of a three-catcher platoon. In most games, they are replaced by a pinch-hitter. In the third inning, after replacing Vergel de Dios, Faildo was set to face CJ Brown with two runners on base two outs. Hill called an offensive timeout to discuss Faildo’s approach.

“He told me to move up in the box, and try to get a pitch that was up,” Faildo recalled. “I got (a pitch) that was up. I thought I put a pretty good swing on it, and fortunately it left the yard.”

On Saturday, Faildo did not see the baseball’s roll when he raced to first for an RBI bunt single. This time, he also did not see the baseball go over the left-center fence. “Actually, I had no idea,” Faildo said. “Rounding first, I heard the crowd cheering and I thought it must have been something good, and I looked up, and they weren’t going for the ball, and I figured it must have left.”

The homer capped a four-run third that gave the ’Bows a 7-3 lead. Ben Zeigler-Namoa and Jared Quandt each drove in two runs for the ’Bows.

HAWAII 5, CSU BAKERSFIELD 4

ROADRUNNERS AB R H BI BB SO LOB

Pelayo ss 1 1 0 0 1 1 0

Barnum 2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

Cloyd 1b 3 0 0 1 0 1 0

Dobson 3b 1 0 1 1 0 0 0

Bennett pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Alvarez 3b 2 0 0 1 0 1 1

Perreira dh 4 1 1 0 0 2 2

Leroy c 3 0 0 1 1 1 0

Mascaro cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 2

Zulaica 2b/ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 0

Johnson lf 1 1 0 0 2 0 1

Bujanda McConnell ph/lf

1 0 1 0 0 0 0

9Pollard lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 0

Totals 29 4 6 4 4 10 6

RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO LOB

Miura cf 3 2 2 1 2 0 0

Sakaino 2b 4 1 2 1 1 0 0

Zglr.-Namoa 1b 3 1 1 2 1 1 2

Takemoto dh 5 1 2 1 0 2 1

Quandt rf 5 0 1 2 0 0 2

Nahaku lf 4 0 1 0 1 1 1

Nushida 3b 4 1 1 1 1 0 2

Kinzie 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Donahue ss 3 3 1 0 2 0 1

Vrgl. de Dios c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Salmon ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Faildo c 2 2 1 3 0 0 0

Totals 34 11 12 11 8 4 9

CSU Bakers. 120 000 010 — 4 6 0

Hawaii 214 120 10x —11 12 0

Records:

CSU Bakersfield (17-29, 8-13, Big West)

Hawaii (28-14, 12-12 Big West)

DP—Hawaii 1. LOB—CSU Bakersfield 6

Hawaii 9.

2B—Pollard, Quandt, Donahue. 3B—Perreira. HR—Faildo. SH—Alvarez. SF—Zeigler-Namoa. SB—Pelayo, Bennett,

Mascaro, Miura. CS—Johnson, Nushida.

CSU BAKERSFIELD IP H R ER BB SO

Leary 0 2 2 2 1 0

Brown (L 1-1) 4 8 6 6 2 1

Borboa 0 1 2 2 1 0

Morisaki 2 0 0 0 1 2

Urias-Calvillo 1

⁄3 0 1 1 1 0

Fragoso 2

⁄3 1 0 0 2 1

Reddemann 1 0 0 0 0 0

HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO

Gonzalez 11

⁄3 2 3 3 3 2

O’Brien (W 3-2) 42

⁄3 1 0 0 1 7

Thomas 2 3 1 1 0 0

Rodriguez 1 0 0 0 0 1

Leary faced 3 batters in first;

Borboa faced 3 batters in 5th;

Fragoso faced 1 batter in 8th.

WP—Brown, Morisaki. HBP—By O’Brien

(Pelayo); by O’Brien (Cloyd); by Borboa

(Faildo); by Thomas (Barnum); by Thomas

(Cloyd). PB—Leroy.

Umpires—HP: Mike Bell; 1B: Bradley

Hungerford; 3B: Michael Carr. T—3:33.

A—3,710 (tickets issued).