HONOLULU – After trailing early on, Hawaii’s baseball team rallied for the second day in a row and cruised to a series win over UC Santa Barbara with an 8-5 win Friday at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors (28-20, 17-12 Big West) won their eighth straight home game since April 21, erasing a 3-0 deficit after the first inning by scoring the game’s next eight runs. Hawaiian pitching racked up strikeouts for the second day in a row, as Randy Abshier and harrison bodendorf combined for 17 strikeouts, with Abshier matching a career-high with nine and Bodendorf adding a season-high eight.
The Gauchos got on the board in the first inning for the second day in a row, this time driving three runs on a Christian Kirtley three-run shot to the opposite field, but the ‘Bows struggled again.
UH scored four runs over the next three innings, getting one in the second and third and two in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. dallas duarte put the Rainbow Warriors on the board in the second, hitting an RBI double to right center for a score Sean Rimmer all the way from the start, making it 3-1.
The ‘Bows splintered again in the third when Sean Rimmer he came up with a two-out RBI single, cutting the deficit to 3-2. jordan donahue tied it in the fourth when he rushed to score from second on a pass earlier jacob igawa put Hawai’i in front with a base hit up the right side to score Duarte, who reached on a walk.
After a scoreless fifth, Hawai’i added four runs in the sixth to open things up. With one out in the inning, miyao stone he hit his first home run of the year, a towering jab to right, to make it 5–3. UH took advantage of some errors by Gaucho to put the other three races in the frame. Ben Zeigler-Namoa he made it 6-3 with an RBI fielder’s pick before coming on to score after a pass ball and a wild pitch. The ‘Bows added one more on a balk, extending the lead to 8-3.
matt wong He continued his big weekend in his final series at Les Murakami Stadium, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored, making him 8-6 with five runs scored on the weekend. Duarte and Miyao each had two hits and Miyao extended his hitting streak to nine with a 2-for-5 day. Igawa went 1 for 4 and has hit singles in 20 of the last 21 games, while Rimmer went 1-for-2 with one RBI, one run scored and two walks.
The Rainbow Warriors will conclude the 2023 regular season with Senior Night on Saturday at 6:35 pm at Les Murakami Stadium.
