Strong pitching, a seven-run sixth inning and a rare home run helped the Hawaii baseball team pull away to Thursday night’s 10-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 1,971 saw the Rainbow Warriors prevail for the 14th time in 15 games to claim the opener of the three-game, season-ending series.
The ’Bows improved to 35-16 overall and 18-10 in the Big West. Their 35 victories are the most since going 35-28 in 2010, a season in which they reached the NCAA Regional.
It was 2-all in the sixth when UH left fielder DallasJ Duarte hit a one-out double to left-center. Duarte went to third on Matthew Miura’s single to left.
With right-hander Andrew Morones announced as the replacement for CSUF’s left-handed starter Mikiah Negrete, UH coach Rich Hill beckoned left-swinging Itsuki Takemoto to pinch-hit for Naighel Ali‘i Calderon. Takemoto grounded a 1-1 pitch from Morones between first baseman Nico Regino and second baseman Jack Haley for a run-scoring single to move the ’Bows ahead 3-2.
Jared Quandt then was hit by a pitch to load the bases. One out later, Jordan Donahue and Jake Tsukada hit back-to-back two-run doubles to widen the ’Bows’ lead to 7-2.
After Austin Machado walked, Kyson Donahue and Duarte smacked consecutive run-scoring singles to make it 9-2.
Once again, the ’Bows received an effective effort from a starting pitcher. Harrison Bodendorf allowed two earned runs — both coming in the fourth inning on Colby Wallace’s sixth home run of the season — in 4 2/3 innings. Five days after striking out 10 in four innings, Bodendorf, a sophomore left-hander, fanned eight and walked two. The Titans entered averaging 10 strikeouts a game or once every 3.8 plate appearances.
In the past 12 games, UH starters have a combined 1.81 ERA.
“I felt good,” Bodendorf said. “I just picked it up from last weekend. I threw fastballs early so I could get to the changeup.”
Hill said Bodendorf has had “an uptick in velocity” in recent games. “He’s a beast in the weight room,” Hill added. “This late in the season to start getting better is a credit to how hard he’s worked.”
Alex Giroux inherited a two-on, two-out situation from Bodendorf in the fifth. Giroux induced Regino to hit a pop-up to the catcher Machado. Giroux pitched the final 41⁄3 scoreless innings to earn the victory and improve to 7-3.
The ’Bows scored a run in each of the first two innings for a 2-0 lead. In the opening frame, Tsukada singled to left, sprinted to third on Machado’s bloop single to right, and scored on Kyson Donahue’s RBI groundout to first.
In the second, Calderon hit a drive over the fence in right field for his first UH home run in 105 games and 124 at-bats.
“Geez, it’s a great feeling,” Calderon said. “I honestly blacked out. I lost the ball when it went up because it was kind of dusk-ish. I looked at Rich, and went like this (motioning his index finger in a circle). I started celebrating. … You can try to do that, but it happens when you least expect it. Before the AB started, I got into that zone of being ready. As we all know, it’s our last (series). I’m glad I got that one.”
Tsukada, a 2019 Punahou graduate who transferred from Portland in August, went 4-for-5, scored two runs and drove in three. He is hitting .485 in his last 33 at-bats.
“I’m sticking to the approach the coaches are putting out for us,” Tsukada said. “Having confidence in the work I put in off the field and practice. Once I get to the field, I let it go.”
Hill said of Tsukada: “What a blessing he came back to Hawaii to play for the hometown team. Not only is he a great player, but a great kid.”
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UCSB 24 4 .857 — 40 12
UC Irvine 21 7 .750 3 42 11
Cal Poly 19 9 .679 5 34 21
Hawaii 18 10 .643 6 35 16
UCSD 17 13 .567 8 30 23
CS Northridge 15 13 .536 9 29 23
UC Davis 12 16 .429 12 28 26
!-LBSU 9 19 .321 15 24 28
CS Fullerton 7 21 .250 17 16 36
CS Bakersfield 7 21 .250 17 14 37
UC Riverside 6 22 .214 18 16 34
!-does not include one tie
Thursday
Hawaii 10, Cal State Fullerton 2
UC Davis 7, Cal State Bakersfield 6
UC Santa Barbara 12, UC Riverside 3
Cal Poly 8, Long Beach State 5
UC Irvine 5, Cal State Northridge 2
Today
Cal State Fullerton at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
Cal State Bakersfield at UC Davis
UC Riverside at UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach State at Cal Poly
Cal State Northridge at UC Irvine
Saturday
Cal State Fullerton at Hawaii, 4:05 p.m.
Cal State Bakersfield at UC Davis
Cal State Northridge at UC Irvine
Long Beach State at Cal Poly
UC Riverside at UC Santa Barbara
End regular season
HAWAII 10,
CAL STATE FULLERTON 2
TITANS AB R H BI BB SO
Regino 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2
Schardt lf 4 0 1 0 0 2
Latta ss 4 1 1 0 0 2
Wallace rf 4 1 2 2 0 0
Lopez 3b 4 0 2 0 0 1
Bardowell dh 3 0 0 0 1 1
Perez c 2 0 0 0 0 2
Ortega ph 1 0 0 0 0 1
Haley 2b 1 0 0 0 1 0
Guzman cf 3 0 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 30 2 6 2 2 12
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO
J. Donahue ss 4 1 1 2 1 1
Tsukada 2b 5 2 4 3 0 0
Machado c 4 1 1 0 1 2
K. Donahue 1b 5 0 2 2 0 2
Duarte lf 5 1 2 1 0 0
Miura cf 5 1 2 0 0 0
Calderon dh 2 1 1 1 0 0
Takemoto ph/dh 3 1 1 1 0 1
Quandt rf 2 2 0 0 1 2
Ickes 3b 5 0 1 0 0 3
TOTALS 40 10 15 10 3 11
Fullerton (16-36, 7-21)000 200 000 — 2 6 1
Hawaii (35-16, 18-10) 110 007 10x — 10 15 0
E—Haley. DP—Hawaii 1. LOB—Cal State
Fullerton 5, Hawaii 11. 2B—J. Donahue,
Tsukada, Duarte. HR—Wallace; Calderon.
SH—Perez. HBP—Haley; Quandt 2.
CAL STATE FULLERTON IP H R ER BB SO
Negrete (L, 4-5) 51
3 8 4 4 0 7
Morones 1
3 3 4 4 0 1
Blood 11
3 3 2 2 2 2
Wright 1 1 0 0 1 1
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Bodendorf 42
3 3 2 2 2 8
Giroux (W, 7-3) 41
3 3 0 0 0 4
WP—Giroux. HBP—by Giroux (Haley); by
Morones (Quandt), by Blood (Quandt).
Umpires—(Plate): Frank Pflugradt. (First):
Christopher Torres. (Second): Christopher
Torres. (Third): Garrett Wells. T—2:51.
A–3,276.
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