HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team broke out the bats to even up the series with No. 15 UC Santa Barbara in a 15-7 win before another sold-out crowd at Les Murakami Stadium Saturday night.
The win sets up a rubber game for the series victory Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
UH banged out 16 hits, all of which came in the first five innings, led by
Itsuki Takemoto's 3-for-5 night with a homer and four RBIs.
Jared Quandt drove in three runs and finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and
Isaiah Magdaleno led the Rainbow Warrior pitchers, shutting the Gauchos out over the final three innings with six strikeouts to get the save.
The Rainbow Warriors jumped out to an early lead, plating the first four runs of the game.
Jared Quandt delivered RBIs in the first and third innings while Takemoto and
Kamana Nahaku each came through with two-out RBI singles to make it 4-0 after three.
After the Gauchos trimmed the UH lead to one with three runs in the fourth, the 'Bows came roaring back with six runs on seven hits in the bottom half to open up a big lead.
Shunsuke Sakaino drove in the first run of the frame to make it 5-3 before Quandt struck again to put UH up three. Takemoto then came up with two on and two out and smashed a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall for his first career homer to break open a 9-3 advantage.
Draven Nushida capped off the scoring in the inning by beating out an infield hit.
Tha Gauchos got two unearned runs in the fifth to trim into the lead but UH again responded, this time with three runs in the bottom half.
Elijah Ickes delivered a gap shot to left center, plating two before Nushida picked up his second RBI of the night to put the 'Bows in front 13-5.
Three UH pitchers combined to strike out 12 batters while walking just three led by Magdaleno's six punch-outs to earn his second save.
Freddy Rodriguez earned the win while
Liam O'Brien started and pitched four innings, having his consecutive scoreless innings streak snapped at 14 in the fourth inning.
Six Rainbow Warriors tallied multiple hits while six different players drove in runs as the 'Bows finished 10-for-22 with runners in scoring position while plating eight runs with two outs.
