NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Kamana Nahaku hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning to fuel the Hawai'i baseball team to a series-tying 9-3 win at CSUN Saturday.
The Rainbow Warriors banged out eight extra-base hits, totaling five doubles, two homers and a triple as they erased a 3-1 middle innings deficit by scoring eight unanswered runs to set up a rubber match Sunday.
Sebastian Gonzalez and
Isaiah Magdaleno combined to shut out the Matadors over the final 4.2 innings. Gonzalez pitched two scoreless frames to get the win while Magdaleno got his fourth save after pitching 2.2 shutout innings to close it out.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, Nahaku took an 0-2 pitch out over the center field wall to vault the 'Bows in front 7-3. The grand slam was the first by a Hawai'i player since Mar. 25, 2023 (
Kyson Donahue).
Matthew Miura provided some insurance in the top of the ninth, crushing a no-doubt two-run homer out to left field to make it 9-3.
The Rainbow Warriors struck first, getting on the board three batters in when Miura singled to drive in
Shunsuke Sakaino who opened the game with a double.
CSUN responded with a run in the third and two in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead, but UH came back with a pair of runs in the sixth to tie it.
Jared Quandt scored
Ben Zeigler-Namoa with a sacrifice fly before
Aidan Kuni tied it up with a ciutch pinch-hit, two-out double down the right field line to knot things up at three.
Nahaku's grand slam was his second homer of the weekend and gives him a team-leading seven RBIs in the series. Magdaleno lowered his season ERA to 0.99 and owns a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 31-2 while his WHIP sits at 0.51. Coming into the weekend, he led the nation in WHIP and sat in the top 10 nationally in ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio.
The Rainbow Warriors will go for the series win against the Matadors Sunday at 10 a.m. HT (ESPN+, ESPN Honolulu).
