Rainbows use ensemble cast to drub HPU

A pitching cast of nine boosted the Hawaii baseball team to Tuesday night’s 10-1 victory over Hawaii Pacific at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 1,251 saw nine Rainbow Warriors each pitch an inning and combine to allow seven hits.

Designated hitter Jake Tsukada smacked his second home run of the season and right fielder Jared Quandt had a triple and double as the ’Bows improved to 16-10. The Sharks fell to 19-16.

“I was just trying to hit a line drive up the middle,” Tsukada said of blast to right. “I just got lucky, and the ball left the yard.”

Tsukada, who usually plays second, was 3-for-5 with three runs as the designated hitter.

“I can’t complain, I’m still in the lineup,” said Tsukada, who upped his average to .343. “Just trying to find a way to help the team win. So I’m happy with that.”

Jordan Donahue, Tsukada and Matt Miura singled to open the UH first. Ben Zeigler-Namoa’s groundout brought home one run and Kyson Donahue’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.

The ’Bows added two runs in the second for a 4-0 lead. DallasJ Duarte singled to deep short, then circled home when Quandt pulled a drive into the right-field corner for an RBI triple.

“I wasn’t sure,” Quandt said of stretching the hit into a triple. “I actually took a peek when I was rounding second. I should have been going three all the way there.”

Quandt trotted home on Elijah Ickes’ RBI groundout to short.

The Sharks got on the board in the fourth after Skyler Agnew doubled, went to third on Nicholas Jio’s single, and scored when UH pitcher Brayden Marx fielded Noah Hata’s grounder but threw too late to the plate.

But Tsukada’s bases-empty drive over the fence in right field restored the ’Bows’ advantage to four runs.

The ’Bows scored two more runs in the sixth on Tsukada’s fielder-choice grounder to second and Zeigler-Namoa’s RBI groundout. Of the ’Bows’ first seven runs, five came on groundouts and a sacrifice fly.

UH’s Kyson Donahue also continued his hitting surge, going 2-for-3. In the first 14 games, Donahue batted .216. In the last 10, he is hitting .560 (14-for-25).

“It’s not crazy adjustments,” Donahue said. “I’m getting into my legs a little more. I’m working on bat angle a little bit to help me enter the zone better. The goal from the summer was to get flatter (with the swing) and quicker. Before I was tipping my bat down. I got away from that, and that’s the adjustment I made recently.”

At least for Tuesday night, Harrison Bodendorf returned to his spot as a starting pitcher. He struck out one and walked one in a 19-pitch inning. But in this “staff” game — in which the plan was to use a different pitcher every inning — Bodendorf was done after the first.

Cory Ronan, who had not pitched since March 4, replaced Bodendorf, and produced the game’s best pitching perforance. In his scoreless inning, Ronan did not allow a run or hit, throwing strikes on six of eight pitches.

“I like what Cory Ronan did,” said UH coach Rich Hill, who still has not finalized the travel roster for the coming two-week road trip. “He’s really been biding his time and working extremely hard. He kind of stood out to me tonight. We’ll go back and see who goes where.”

Nainoa Cardinez, a converted catcher, got the final three outs.

Perhaps the play of the day was when 61-year-old Lindsay Meggs, who was coaching first base for UH, dived to avoid being struck by a line drive.

“That reminded me of his old quarterback days (with the) Saratoga Falcons,” Hill said of his former high school classmate. “The first thing I told him was, ‘you know that’s on TV.’ It’s there forever.”

HAWAII 10, HAWAII PACIFIC 1

SHARKS AB R H BI BB SO

Taylor 1b/lf 4 0 2 0 0 1

Suzuki rf 5 0 2 0 0 1

Smith ss 4 0 0 0 1 2

Agnew 3b 5 1 1 0 0 2

Jio 2b 2 0 1 0 1 0

Hata cf 3 0 0 1 0 0

Otjen p/dh 3 0 0 0 0 1

Igawa ph 1 0 0 0 0 1

Peralez lf 3 0 1 0 0 0

Millikan ph/1b 0 0 0 0 1 0

Johnson c 4 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 34 1 7 1 3 8

RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO

J. Donahue ss 4 2 3 1 0 0

Tsukada dh 5 3 3 3 0 0

Miura cf 4 0 1 0 1 1

Nahaku lf 0 0 0 0 0 0

Zeigler lf 4 0 0 2 0 0

Rivera ph 1 0 0 0 0 0

K. Donahue 1b 3 0 2 1 1 0

Calderon pr 0 1 0 0 0 0

Miyao 2b 4 0 1 0 1 1

Ujimori pr 0 0 0 0 0 0

Duarte c 3 1 1 1 1 0

Hiraki c 0 0 0 0 0 0

Quandt rf 5 1 2 1 0 1

Ickes 3b 3 2 2 1 0 0

TOTALS 36 10 15 10 4 3

Hawaii Pacific (19-16) 000 100 000 — 1 7 1

Hawaii (16-10) 220 012 21x — 10 15 1

E–Smith; Ickes. LOB–HPU 12, UH 10.

DP–HPU 1. 2B–Agnew; J. Donahue,

Quandt, Ickes. 3B—Quandt. HR—Tsukada.

SH—Hata; J. Donahue. SF—K. Donahue,

Duarte. HBP—Taylor, Jio; Ickes.

HAWAI PACIFIC IP H R ER BB SO

Otjen (L, 2-3) 12

3 6 4 4 0 1

Leisher 3 3 1 1 1 1

Quia 1 1 2 2 2 0

Molina 1

3 0 0 0 1 0

Espinoza 1 3 2 1 0 1

O’Brien 1 2 1 1 0 0

HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO

Bodendorf (W, 1-3) 1 0 0 0 1 1

Ronan 1 0 0 0 0 1

Atkins 1 1 0 0 0 1

Marx 1 2 1 1 0 1

Waite 1 2 0 0 0 0

Magdaleno 1 0 0 0 1 0

Gonzalez 1 1 0 0 0 2

Standish 1 0 0 0 1 1

Cardinez 1 1 0 0 0 1

WP–Quia. BK—Standish. HBP–by Leisher

(Ickes); by Gonzalez (Taylor); by Gonzalez

(Jio). PB–Duarte.

Umpires—(Plate): Paul Wallrabenstein.

(First): Jim LeBeau. (Second): John Matson. (Third): Ikaika Nishimura. T—3:00.

A–1,251.