Hawaii baseball team defeats Cal Poly with 6-5 victory

Naighel Ali‘i Calderon smacked a walk-off double in the 11th inning to boost the Hawaii baseball team to a 6-5 victory over Cal Poly today at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 2,148 watched the Rainbow Warriors win two in this three-game series between Big West teams. The ’Bows improved to 22-15 overall and 6-9 in the Big West.

The ’Bows rallied to tie it at 4 in the ninth when Matthew Miura raced home from second on a wild pitch, and then evened it at 5 on DallasJ Duarte’s sacrifice fly in the 10th.

In the UH 11th, Ben Zeigler-Namoa singled to left but later was thrown out at second on Elijah Ickes’ fielder’s choice groundout. Ickes went to second when pinch hitter Kamana Nahaku was hit by a Caden Pearlman pitch.

Calderon, who was added to the lineup 20 minutes ahead of the first pitch, then hit a towering drive that went over right fielder Liam McDonald’s head and struck the fence. Ickes, who had paused between second and third to make sure the ball was not caught, then raced home with the winning run.

“I tried to get home and score, and that’s what I did,” Ickes said.

Calderon said: “I saw that happening before it happened. We do a lot of mental preparation before the game. … I saw (the ball), and I hit it.

“I don’t even remember what kind of pitch it was.”