Indiana weathered a six-hour time difference, a controversial foul-ball call and Hawaii’s frenetic comeback for a 7-6 baseball victory Wednesday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 894 witnessed the end of the Rainbow Warriors’ six-game winning streak. The ’Bows fell to 10-6. The second of this four-game series is scheduled to begin at 6:35 tonight.
The ’Bows scored rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth. But they went down in order in the final inning.
The Hoosiers made timely plays and took advantage of several UH unforced mistakes — three wild pitches and two errors — in the longest UH game of the season at 3 hours, 31 minutes.
The Hoosiers scored two runs in the sixth to go ahead 4-3 and chase UH starting pitcher Dominic DeMiero. Alex Krupa and Matt Gorski hit consecutive singles to open the sixth. Craig Dedelow then singled to right to score Krupa. One out later, Jake Matheny hit a chopper to third. Josh Rojas fielded the ball, then fired wide of the plate as Gorski scored the go-ahead run.
The Hoosiers broke it open with a three-run seventh. Krupa’s two-out double drove home Austin Cangelosi. Krupa then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Gorski walked as the fourth ball skipped to backstop, enabling Krupa to score. Gorski sprinted all the way to second. Dedelow then followed with a double that just eluded left-fielder Marcus Doi.
DeMiero, who had moved to the No. 1 spot in the rotation, never seemed to find his groove despite not allowing a hit in the first four innings. DeMiero experienced tightness in his left (throwing) shoulder in the first inning of his previous outing. In 52⁄3 innings, DeMiero allowed four hits and four runs — only one earned — and struck out four.
Dylan Thomas, who replaced DeMiero, got the final out to terminate the threat in the top of the sixth. But he exited an inning later after walking the leadoff hitter and going 2-0 to the next batter. He left after that because of a possible blister on his pitching hand.
The Hoosiers took a 2-0 lead without a hit in the third inning. Cangelosi, whose father John played 13 seasons in the major leagues, reached first when shortstop Dustin Demeter bobbled a grounder. Tony Butler was hit by a DeMiero pitch and Jeremy Houston walked to load the bases. Krupa’s sacrifice fly scored Cangelosi and sent Butler to third. Butler then scored on Matt Gorski’s sacrifice fly.
The Hoosiers appeared to take a 4-0 lead when Logan Sowers hit a towering fly toward the foul pole in left. Home plate umpire Travis Katzenmeier initially ruled it a 2-run homer. Left-fielder Doi pointed his glove to the left of the pole, protesting that the ball hooked foul. UH coach Mike Trapasso also argued against the homer. Katzenmeier then gathered the other two umpires, and after a meeting, reversed his intial call and ruled Sowers’ drive as a foul ball.
The ’Bows closed to 2-1 in the fourth on third baseman Josh Rojas’ blast to right for the first home run of his UH career.
In the bottom of the fifth, the ’Bows scored two runs to take a 3-2 lead. Catcher Kekai Rios double to left-center, then scooted to third on Adam Fogel’s bloop single to right. Alex Fitchett’s sacrifice fly to right scored Rios and sent Fogel to second. One out later, Johnny Weeks hit a grounder past diving shortstop Houston to score Fogel.
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