HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team continued its late-season dominance on the mound, blanking CSUN, 7-0, on Thursday night at Les Murakami Stadium to secure back-to-back shutouts against the Matadors and clinch the weekend series.
By virtue of the win and a UC San Diego win over Cal State Fullerton earlier in the day, UH is locked in to the No. 4 seed in next week's Big West Championship and will play a single elimination game on Wednesday at 3 p.m. HT.
The Rainbow Warriors (27-21, 16-13 Big West) rode a combined shutout from starter
Hekili Robello and relievers
John Alkire II and
Tsubasa Tomii. The masterful pitching effort perfectly complemented
Isaiah Magdaleno's complete-game shutout on Wednesday, marking consecutive blankings of the Matadors (24-28, 11-18 Big West).
It's the first time since 2014 (May 2-3 vs. NYIT) that the 'Bows have pitched back-to-back shutouts, and the seventh shutout of the season – the most since 1992 (8).
Robello (9-4) set the tone early, tossing five scoreless innings while scattering just four hits. The right-hander struck out four and issued zero walks on 74 pitches, picking up his team-leading ninth victory of the year. Alkire II followed with three dominant innings of relief, yielding only one hit while striking out four, before Tomii pitched a scoreless ninth inning to seal the 7-0 victory.
Hawai'i provided all the necessary run support with an explosive 11-hit offensive attack. The 'Bows struck first with a pair of runs in the second inning, doubled their advantage with two more runs in the fourth, and broke the game open with a three-run seventh inning.
First baseman
Josh Martin delivered a spectacular performance at the plate, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. The junior went 3-for-4 with a game-high three runs scored, two RBIs, a double, and his second home run of the season.
In his return to the lineup after missing 20 games with an injury, shortstop
Elijah Ickes matched Martin's three-hit output, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a double, and a triple.
Noah Rodriguez also contributed a multi-hit performance from the bottom of the lineup, finishing 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI.
Draven Nushida and
Jake Redding rounded out the run production by driving in a run apiece.
Martin launched a solo homer in the second before Ickes delivered an RBI triple to make it 2-0.
Noah Rodriguez and Ickes doubled the lead in the fourth with a pair of run-scoring singles, making it 4-0.
UH then added three runs in the seventh to break things open. Martin drove in his second run of the game when he smashed a double off the right field wall to make it 5-0. After a
Jake Redding RBI groundout,
Draven Nushida singled home Martin to cap off the scoring.
The Rainbow Warriors will look to complete the series sweep and send their 17 departing seniors out with a victory in Friday's regular-season finale at 6:35 p.m. HT.
