HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team got its first win of the 2024 season Saturday after splitting a pair of seven-inning games with Ole Miss, dropping game one 5-2 and winning the second, 9-1.
Freshmen
Isaiah Magdaleno and
Itsuki Takemoto led UH on the mound in game two, combining to allow just one run on three hits with 11 strikeouts over seven innings.
Kyson Donahue provided the back-breaking blow in the nightcap with a three-run homer in the fifth inning while another true freshman,
Elijah Ickes, went 4-for-5 with a walk, RBI and two runs scored in the doubleheader.
Game 1: Ole Miss 5, Hawai'i 2
The Rainbow Warriors fell behind early in the doubleheader opener thanks to a couple of Ole Miss home runs and couldn't recover in a 5-2 loss.
For the second straight game, the Rebels got on the board first with a second-inning home run. Bo Gatlin went deep to straight away center field for a two-out, three-run shot to make it 3-0 in the second.
The 'Bows got one run back in the bottom half on an
Elijah Ickes bases-loaded RBI single, but a double play one batter later prevented UH from putting up a crooked number. Ole Miss' Andrew Fischer answered in the in the next half inning with a two-out solo shot, making it 4-1.
Hawai'i cut into the lead with a single run in the bottom of the third, but the Rebels got it right back in the fourth to make it 5-2.
Tyler Dyball provided a bright spot on the mound, givin the Rainbow Warriors three shutout innings of relief with three strikeouts and no walks. Ickes reached base in all three of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.
Game 2: Hawai'i 9, Ole Miss 1
Hawai'i took an early lead while getting a pair of stellar debut efforts from true freshmen on the mound on the way to a 9-1 win over Ole Miss in the nightcap of the doubleheader.
Magdaleno earned the win in his first career start after pitching four innings with five strikeouts, holding the Rebels hitless over his first four innings of work. Takemoto replaced Magdaleno in the fifth and stranded a pair of runners on in his first inning of work. He worked the final three innings with six strikeouts and just a hit and walk allowed to earn the save in his first career appearance.
The Rainbow Warriors struck first for the first time in the series with two runs in the opening frame.
Austin Machado picked up his second RBI of the weekend with a double to right field, scoring Ickes from first before
Ben Zeigler-Namoa doubled the lead with a two-out knock to plate Machado.
Jared Quandt added to the UH lead in the fourth inning on a two-out RBI single, before
Jake Tsukada followed one batter later with a two-run knock to stretch the lead to 5-0.
The Rebels got on the board in the fifth, but the 'Bows responded with four runs in the bottom half to break it open.
Dallas Duarte plated a run with a double to left field before
Kyson Donahue launched a three-run shot over the street beyond the right field wall to make it 9-1.
The two teams wrap up their four-game series Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
