Hawaii beats Long Beach State to sweep baseball series

The University of Hawaii baseball team held on for today’s 4-2 victory over Long Beach State to complete the sweep of the three-game series at Les Murakami Stadium.

A matinee crowd of 1,455 saw designated hitter Jacob Igawa and second baseman Stone Miyao drive in all four runs to help the Rainbow Warriors improve to 19-13 overall and 9-6 in the Big West. The Dirtbags, who went 19 consecutive scoreless innings before getting two runs in the ninth, fell to 22-15 and 9-9.

“You’ve got to credit them,” LBSU coach Eric Valenzuela said. “They did a great job all weekend. They out-played us, out-coached us. We didn’t have a good weekend.”

Igawa’s run-scoring single made it 1-0 in the first inning.

In the fourth, left-handed Stone Miyao put down a squeeze as Jared Quandt raced home from third. Miyao atoned for Saturday’s unsuccessful squeeze.

“When Coach (Rich Hill) gave (the bunt sign) to me, I had to make sure I got it down,” Miyao said. “I’m glad the run scored.”

In the sixth, Miyao pulled a drive into the right-center gap to plate two more runs.

Harrison Bodendorf, who pitched the final three innings on Friday, earned the victory in his fifth start of the season. Bodendorf, a walk-on freshman, allowed three hits in 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Bodendorf said his fastball and changeup were his most effective pitches today.