Hawai'i Game Notes | San Francisco Game NotesHONOLULU – After opening up the first two weekends of the season on the Hawaiian Isles, the University of Hawai'I Rainbow Warriors baseball team (2-4) will travel to the mainland for the first time this season, slated to take on University of San Francisco (0-4) in a relocated neutral site series in Moraga, Calif., Friday-Sunday, Feb. 26-28.
The Rainbow Warriors split their opening weekend at UH-Hilo, Feb. 13-14 and dropped the home-opening series to New Mexico last weekend at Les Murakami Stadium, 1-3. The Rainbow Warriors will face the Dons of USF for the first time since 2012 in the 28th time overall this weekend, holding a narrow 15-12 lead in the series. The teams have never met at a neutral site, but UH leads 5-4 when playing in California.
Originally scheduled to be played on USF's campus, the series needed to be relocated and rescheduled due to a significant renovation project of the Dante Benedetti Diamond baseball facility. All three games have been moved to Louis Guisto Field on the campus of Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. With the 30-mile geographic change, the game times were adjusted for two games in the series.
Friday's (Feb. 26) opener will be played in the morning, with first pitch slated for 10:00 a.m. HT. Saturday's (Feb. 27) contest was moved to 2:00 p.m. PT (12:00 p.m. HT), while Sunday's (Feb. 28) game remains at the originally-scheduled 1:00 p.m. PT (11:00 a.m. HT).
The Dons opened up with a winless series last weekend at fellow Big West Conference team UC Santa Barbara, and are slated for midweek contests, including a cross-bay matchup with No. 12 California on Tuesday and Utah Valley at a neutral site on Wednesday.
Thus far, the outfield tandem of redshirt junior Blake Valley and sophomore Brady Bate has paced the Dons at the plate, both batting .444 after one series. Valley leads the team with five RBI, while Bate has scored one run. Junior Matt Sinatro hasn't been far behind, hitting .429. As a team, after the weekend, USF is hitting .244 and scored 15 runs in the series at UCSB.
On the mound, left-handed freshman Chase Gardner and right-handed sophomore Grant Goodman lead the starters, registering ERAs of 6.35 and 6.75, respectively. Gardner went 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, with two strikeouts and three walks. Goodman only made a 2.2-inning start, giving two runs on two hits, striking out three and walking two. As a unit, against UCSB the Dons struggled on the mound, allowing a team ERA of 7.03 after allowing 34 UCSB runs to score.
As for the Rainbow Warriors, senior Australian shortstop
Jacob Sheldon-Collins has continued his hitting progress from last season and leads the team with a .385 average after six games, reaching double-digit hits already and sharing the team lead with five RBI, aided by a team-high three doubles. Sheldon-Collins is on a five game hit streak and has garnered a base knock in seven of the last eight games, dating back to the final series of 2015. Fellow senior, outfielder
Alan Baldwin is hitting .368, scoring a pair of runs for the 'Bows. An early surprise has been senior center fielder
Matt LoCoco, who has tallied hits in 4-of-6 games this season and has already hit two triples and a home run, scoring a team-best six runs.
On the bump, junior right-hander
Brendan Hornung will likely take the front spot in the series, now with a 3.18 ERA and 0-2 record after two starts. Hornung has pitched a team-high 11.1 innings, stirking out nine and walking six. Senior right-hander
Kyle Von Ruden will likely follow, at 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA, striking out five and walking three through 11.0 innings. Likely rounding out the trio, senior lefty
Alex Hatch will make his second career start, holding an 0-1 record and 10.80 ERA, striking out five and walking two.
University of Hawai'i Games 7-9 What: Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors (2-4) vs. San Francisco Dons (0-4); Neutral Site
When: Friday, Feb. 26, 10:00 a.m. PT (8:00 a.m. HT)
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2:00 p.m. PT (12:00 p.m. HT)
Sunday, Feb. 28, 1:00 p.m. PT (11:00 a.m. HT)
Where: Moraga, Calif. (Louis Guisto Field, Saint Mary's College)
Television: None
Live Video Streaming: None
Radio: All games will be broadcast live on the radio on ESPN 1420 AM with Mel Proctor on the call. Neighbor islands can listen live on KNUI on Maui, KHLO in Hilo, KKON in Kona and KTOH on Kaua'i.
Audio Webcast: www.ESPN1420am.com
Live Stats: Live in-game stats will be provided by San Francisco Athletics throughout the series at the links listed below.
Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 #HawaiiBSB
