HONOLULU – Randy Abshier delivered a dominant start on the mound while
Kyson Donahue powered the offense with a third-inning grand slam to lead the Hawai'i baseball team to a 7-1 win over Tulane Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium.
Abshier turned in the second straight quality start by a Rainbow Warrior pitcher, shutting out the Green Wave and allowing just one hit while setting career-highs with eight strikeouts over six innings pitched. It also marked the second straight day that a UH pitcher took a no-hitter into the sixth inning or later, as Abshier held Tulane without a hit and faced one above the minimum through five innings.
After a couple of singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out in the third inning,
Kyson Donahue came up and blasted the first pitch high in the air over the right field wall for a grand slam to put Hawai'i in front, 4-0.
The 'Bows added to the lead in the fifth, capitalizing on a few Tulane miscues to score three runs and make it 7-0. The first two runs of the frame came around to score when
Stone Miyao delivered an RBI fielder's choice and error on the Green Wave first baseman, making it 6-0.
Sean Rimmer added another run with a sacrifice fly two batters later, scoring Miyao to round out the scoring for the 'Bows.
Abshier had his no-hitter broken up with a one-out bloop single in the sixth, but came back to put up another zero. From there, UH turned things over to its bullpen as
Dalton Renne worked the seventh and allowed the only Green Wave run of the game before
Harrison Bodendorf got the final six outs, recording four strikeouts to finish the game.
Donahue's grand slam was the first of his career and extended his hitting streak to 11 games. He also matched career-highs in hits and RBIs, finishing 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs.
Ben Zeigler-Namoa recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the season and second three-hit game of the year, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
The 'Bows will go for the sweep of the Green Wave in the series finale Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.
