Hawaii beats UC Riverside on Wong homer in ninth

Outfielder Matt Wong smacked a two-run homer in the ninth inning to boost Hawaii to today’s 12-10 baseball victory over UC Riverside at the Riverside (Calif.) Sports Complex.

The Highlanders scored a run in the eighth to tie it at 10. But in the UH ninth, DallasJ Duarte was plunked, tying the school record of 37 hit by pitches in a career. Wong followed with a blast over the wall in center field, his second home run of the game and sixth of the season.

Connor Harrison pitched a scoreless ninth to complete the roller-coaster victory.

The Highlanders scored four runs each in the sixth and seventh innings to take a 9-6 lead. But UH pinch hitter Aaron Ujimori’s three-run double tied it at 9-all in the eighth. Ujimori continued to third when center fielder Jayden Lopez could not cleanly retrieve the ball. Eric Marrujo, the sixth of eight UCR hurlers, bounced a pitch past catcher Mason Grace and Ujimori sprinted home from third with the go-ahead run.

The outcome enabled the ’Bows to improve to 21-14 overall (10-7 in the Big West) and avoid their second consecutive upset to the league’s last-place team. The Highlanders fell to 8-30 and 2-15.

Sunday’s series finale begins at 10 a.m.