HONOLULU – The Univeristy of Hawai'i baseball team pitched it's way to a shutout of Hawaii Pacific on Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium thanks to strong performances from six different pitchers.
Rainbow Warriors (5-2) sophomore starting pitcher
Li'i Pontes made his 2021 debut and went four scoreless to help shutout the Sharks 10-0 and finish the four-game sweep.
For the fourth consecutive game, the 'Bows reached double digits in hits and runs scored. The offensive attack piled on 14 more hits Sunday, out-hitting the sharks 58-26 and outscoring the Sharks 46-6 over the weekend.
Head coach
Mike Trapasso called on five different underclassman arms to follow Pontes' scoreless outing and all five did their job by throwing a scoreless inning. The first arm, freshman
Jake Hymel, struck out one, sophomore
Dalton Renne made his Rainbow Warrior debut and struck out two. Freshmen
Calvin Turchin and
Connor Harrison went the next two innings and both struck out one apiece and redshirt-freshman
Tyler Dyball finished the afternoon striking out two more Sharks (0-4).
The Rainbow Warriors scored the first four runs with two-outs in the third inning. Third baseman
Matt Campos led off the half inning with a single, but he was thrown out trying to steal second. Campos would finish the game 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Freshman
Jared Quandt, in his first collegiate start, walked to restart the action in the inning. After a fly out, the 'Bows started a two-out rally with four consecutive hits from the heart of the order.
Following a single to right from shortstop
Kole Kaler, first baseman
Alex Baeza drove in the first run of the afternoon with a single to left field. Sophomore
Tyler Best then singled to right to bring home another run. With that hit, Best extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Designated hitter
Safea Villaruz-Mauai brought home two more on his double to left field, pushing the lead to 4-0.
The 'Bows would go on to extend their lead to 10-0 by scoring six in the bottom of the eighth. Five hits, including two in the inning by freshman
Stone Miyao, two walks, and two hit-by-pitches aided the six-run burst. Center fielder
Adam Fogel drove in two with a bases-loaded double, Kaler added a single to drive home one, and Baeza collected his second RBI on the day with his second single of the day. Miyao drove in the final two runs with his second single of the inning.
The 2-3-4-5 hitters, Fogel-Kaler-Baeza-Best, for the Rainbow Warriors had a series to remember. Fogel went 10-20 with four runs, four doubles, a homer and nine RBIs, Kaler went 8-19 with five runs, a homer and three RBIs, Baeza went 7-16 with five runs, a double and seven RBIs and Best went 6-15 with a double, triple, five RBIs and seven runs scored.
The Sharks had a scoring chance in the top of the first when they had back-to-back-to-back singles with two outs only to see Miyao leap up and snag a line-drive for the third out of the inning.
The Rainbow Warriors will take on UH-Hilo on Friday at LMS for the first game of a four-game series. That series will be the last weekend before the Bows start up their conference slate. First pitch on Friday night is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. HST. All four games against the Vulcans will be televised on Spectrum Sports. And fan attendance is still not allowed at Les Murakami Stadium due to city and county guidelines.