Fear the smear?
Covered with smeared lines of anti-glare grease and determination, right fielder Jared Quandt helped power the Hawaii baseball program to an 11-3 beating of UC Riverside at Les Murakami Stadium.
A Mother’s Day crowd of 1,757 saw the Rainbow Warriors smack four home runs — two by Quandt — to complete their third consecutive sweep of a Big West series.
The ’Bows also won their 11th in a row, the NCAA’s longest active streak, to improve to 32-15 overall and 15-9 in the Big West. The Highlanders fell to 15-31 and 5-19.
“We feel great,” Quandt said. “As a team, we’ve really come together. The vibe in the locker room is really positive. We’ve got a great program, and we’re heading in the right direction.”
In a game of revolving heroes, the spinning needle pointed to the bottom third of the lineup. Designated hitter Itsuki Takemoto, Quandt, and third baseman Elijah Ickes drove in nine of the ’Bows’ runs.
“It’s a different guy every day,” UH coach Rich Hill said.
Takemoto, a two-way player from Japan, made his first start as a hitter in this freshman season. Takemoto went 2-for-4, scored two runs and drove in two more.
“It was so fun, so fun,” Takemoto said.
Ickes’ lone hit was his first home run of the season, a three-run drive to left.
“You never know over here,” Ickes said, referencing a defiant cross wind that usually holds up drives to left. “You have to keep your head down and run. (Then) you hear the crowd cheering, you look up, and it’s gone.”
Quandt was dressed to thrill, with the eye black stripes running from under his wrap-around shades to his cheeks. “I’ve always gone eye black,” Quandt said of the grease used to cut down glare, “but lately Kyson (Donahue has) been (smearing) it for me. We’re sticking with it.”
Donahue said: “I started doing it (Friday) for him. He asked me out of the blue. I guess since he got a hit or two the other night, he asked me to do it again. I’ll keep doing it as long as (he keeps hitting). Just a smear job. I’ll put it on and then smear it.”
Shortstop Jordan Donahue, who also homered, added: “We’ve been doing it the whole year, smearing the eye black. More of like a swag-factor thing, just for the looks.”
Quandt singled and came around to score in the second inning; hit a two-run double in the third; a homer to open the sixth, and a solo home run in the eighth.
“When I hit that last one,” Quandt said, “I was like, ‘if I hit the wall, cycle.’ You never complain about the ball over the fence.”
Hill said Quandt, who was making his 10th start of the season, has showed patience.
“That guy has spent some time on the bench just figuring some stuff out,” Hill said. “There are two ways to handle that. You can pout, be the victim, or you can go to work, get a fire in your belly. And that’s what he’s done. It’s great to see guys like him who work so hard to do that today.”
Quandt, a left-handed hitter, admitted was “getting a little pull-sided, and I was coming off everything. I spent some time in the (batting) cage going the other way. I really adjusted where I needed to be.”
Quandt also made a leaping catch near the fence in right-center to deprive Zachary Chamizo of an extra-base hit in the third inning.
“I love playing defense,” Quandt said. “It was nice to get the opportunity to make something cool happen. I capitalized on it.”
Harrison Bodendorf allowed two hits and a run in five innings to earn the victory, improving to 4-3.
The ’Bows depart Wednesday ahead of their final road trip of the regular season, a three-game series against Long Beach State.
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UCSB 20 4 .833 — 35 12
UC Irvine 18 6 .750 2 38 10
Cal Poly 17 7 .708 3 31 19
Hawaii 15 9 .625 5 32 15
CS Northridge 15 9 .625 5 29 19
UCSD 15 12 .556 61
2 28 21
UC Davis 9 15 .375 11 24 25
!-LBSU 8 16 .333 12 22 25
CS Bakersfield 7 20 .259 141
2 13 36
CS Fullerton 6 18 .250 14 15 33
UC Riverside 5 19 .208 15 15 31
!-does not include one tie
Sunday
Hawaii 11, UC Riverside 3
UC San Diego 9, Cal State Northridge 2
UC Irvine 7, Long Beach State 1
UC Santa Barbara 7, Cal St. Bakersfield 1
Cal State Fullerton 2, UC Davis 1
x-Cal Poly 8, Utah Tech 1
x-non-league game
HAWAII 11, UC RIVERSIDE 3
HIGHLANDERS AB R H BI BB SO
Mata ss 4 0 0 0 0 2
McLeod ph 1 0 1 0 0 0
Chamizo 3b/2b 4 2 1 1 0 1
Koniarsky rf 4 1 3 0 0 0
Rocha lf 2 0 0 0 2 1
Lopez cf 4 0 1 1 0 0
Grace dh 2 0 0 0 0 0
Martinez ph/dh 2 0 0 1 0 0
Weaver 2b 2 0 0 0 0 2
Rodriguez IV ph/3b 2 0 0 0 0 1
Tallerman 1b 1 0 0 0 1 1
Rivas ph/1b 1 0 0 0 1 0
Blandino ph 0 0 0 0 0 0
Poss c 3 0 0 0 1 1
TOTALS 32 3 6 3 5 9
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO
J. Donahue ss 5 1 1 1 0 0
Tsukada 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0
Machado c 4 0 1 0 0 0
K. Donahue 1b 3 2 1 0 1 0
Duarte lf 4 0 1 0 0 1
Nahaku lf 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miura cf 4 2 1 1 0 0
Takemoto dh 4 2 2 2 0 1
Quandt rf 4 3 4 4 0 0
Ickes 3b 4 1 1 3 0 0
TOTALS 36 11 12 11 1 2
UCR (15-31, 5-19) 000 001 020 — 3 6 0
Hawaii (32-15, 15-9) 053 002 01x — 11 12 0
DP–Hawaii 1. LOB–UCR 8; Hawaii 2. 2B–
Koniarksy; Quandt, Miura. HR–Chamizo; J.
Donahue, Quandt, Ickes. HBP–Chamizo
UC RIVERSIDE IP H R ER BB SO
Flores (L, 0-7) 11
3 5 5 5 0 0
Gebb 4 6 5 5 1 0
Capacete II 22
3 1 1 1 0 2
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Bodendorf (W, 4-3) 5 2 1 1 3 5
Veloz 12
3 1 0 0 1 1
Marx 21
3 3 2 2 1 3
WP–Veloz. HBP–by Bodendorf (Chamizo).
BK–Flores. Umpires—(Plate): Dax Upton.
(First): Rob McKinley. (Second): Michael
Chukerman. (Third): Lee Meyers. T—2:47.
A–3221
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