Hawaii uses big innings to score another blowout win

Another night, another blowout victory for the Hawaii baseball team.

A turnstile crowd of 2,724 saw the Rainbow Warriors put up a seven-run fourth inning en route to routing San Diego State 16-0 on Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium.

The ’Bows won the first two of this three-game series by a combined score of 32-5. The ’Bows improved to 14-7. The Aztecs are 6-15.

The ’Bows amassed 19 hits, drew 12 walks and absorbed two hit by pitches. The Aztecs also dropped a fly ball and a pop-up.

Designated hitter Austin Machado drove in six runs with a three-run double and a three-run homer.

“I’ve been trying to put the ball in play,” said Machado, who has driven in 10 runs in the first two games of this series. “When you put the ball in play, good things happen. Guys in front of me got on, which helped a lot. If they can keep doing that, hopefully I can get hits to drive them in.”

Of Machado, UH coach Rich Hill said: “He’s always been able to hit. And now he’s just stronger, he’s much more mature.”

Jake Tsukada had three hits and scored three runs.

Randy Abshier pitched six scoreless innings for his first victory of the season. Dylan Waite, Sebastian Gonzalez and Brayden Marx each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

“I finally got a win, I’m 1-1,” Abshier said.

Of his success, Abshier said: “They swung the bat and they missed my stuff. That was pretty much it. Fastball in was good. Changeup was good. I think throwing strikes to these guys was the recipe.”

Abshier tbrew strikes on 61 of 87 pitches. In contrast, five Aztecs threw 226 pitches on Saturday for a total of 405 over 16 innings in two games.

In Friday’s opener, the ’Bows sent 14 batters to the plate in a decisive eight-run fifth inning. On Saturday, the ’Bows scored seven in a 13-batter fourth inning to expand a two-run lead to 9-0. Machado’s bases-clearing double was the big shot.

“It was a fastball up,” Machado said. “I was trying to get it into the air to get a sac fly, especially with two strikes. It carried somehow. I’m glad it did, and it scored my guys on base.”

Two batters later, Ben Zeigler-Namoa smacked a two-run double into the right-center gap.

Machado’s second home run of the season, a towering shot over the fence in right field, accounted for three of the runs in the five-run sixth.

“I saw a fastball in, and I got my hands to it,” Machado said. “I got through it. Good things happen when you get your hands through it.”

The ’Bows did most of their damage against Omar Serrano, who entered as the Aztecs’ most effective pitcher (2.17 ERA). But Serrano, who held opposing hitters to a .223 average in his first five starts, was burned for 10 hits, three walks and nine runs (eight of them earned) in 31⁄3 innings. Of Serrano’s 91 pitches, 39 were outside the strike zone.

In contrast, Abshier allowed five hits, walked two and struck out seven to even his record at 1-1.

Abshier did not allow an Aztec into scoring position in the first four innings. With one out in the fifth, Josh Quezeda walked and Jake Jackson singled on a shot that ricocheted off Abshier. But then Abshier induced Finley Bates to ground into an inning-ending double play.

In the SDSU sixth, Shaun Montoya hit a leadoff single. Irwin Weems then lined to center. Outfielder Matthew Miura could not secure the catch, but he threw to second to force out Weems. After Colby Turner singled to right, Abshier struck out Tino Bethancourt and coaxed Manoah Chapman to ground out to deny another SDSU threat.

“That’s the savvy old guy in me,” Abshier said of his problem-solving skills. “Being a fifth year, you’re just used to that stuff. Hopefully the young cats are able to learn from that.”

Hill said of Abshier: “I thought he was outstanding today. To be able to pitch inside at this level is huge. When he can do that, as he has the last few outings, he’s just a different guy.”

The series between former Western Athletic Conference rivals concludes with today’s 1:05 p.m. game. The Aztecs left the WAC for the Mountain West in 1999. The ’Bows joined the Big West for baseball in 2012.