HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team used a balanced offensive attack and a couple of strong efforts on the mound to rout UC Davis, 11-3, and clinch the series win Friday at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors (24-18, 13-10 Big West) banged out 17 hits and scored a run in every inning from the third inning on, highlighted by a four-run sixth that broke things open. Eight of the nine UH starters came through with a hit, with seven of them having multi-hit games and six driving in runs.
For the second straight day the Aggies (17-29, 7-16 Big West) struck first, scoring twice in the top of the third, but UH answered back with three in the bottom half to take the lead. The first three 'Bows singled to start the inning, capped off by
Dallas Duarte's RBI single to cut the deficit to 2-1. After a sacrifice bunt and pop up,
Kyson Donahue delivered a two-run single with two outs to give Hawai'i a 3-2 lead.
The 'Bows added on to their lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth to make it 5-2.
Ben Zeigler-Namoa doubled and scored on a
Jordan Donahue single in the fourth before
Jacob Igawa singled home
Jared Quandt in the fifth to put UH in front by three.
After the Aggies answered with a run in the sixth to make it 5-3, the Rainbow Warriors answered with four runs in the bottom half to stretch the lead back out. Duarte drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to left field before
Matt Wong delivered the big hit of the inning with a two-run triple to right center, making it 8-3.
Kyson Donahue followed one batter later with a sacrifice fly to score Wong, extending the lead to 9-3.
Hawai'i added single runs in the seventh and eighth to cap off the scoring, as Duarte drove in his third run of the game with a single in the seventh and
Stone Miyao delivered a run-scoring base knock in the eighth.
Randy Abshier turned in a solid start, getting the win after matching a career-high with nine strikeouts over 5.1 innings while allowing three runs on seven hits.
Alex Giroux went the rest of the way, holding the Aggies hitless over the final 3.2 innings while fanning five to earn his first career save.
Zeigler-Namoa and
Jordan Donahue each had three-hit games, with Zeigler-Namoa going 3-for-4 with three runs scored while
Jordan Donahue finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Duarte and
Kyson Donahue drove in three runs apiece, while Miyao, Igawa, Wong and Quandt all had a pair of base hits.
The two teams will have Saturday off before wrapping up the series Sunday at 1:05 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.
