The Hawaii baseball team’s series against Big West leader UC San Diego swung on the front end.
The Tritons surged to defeat the Rainbow Warriors, 10-9, with a three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth in Game 1 of the series on Thursday in La Jolla, Calif. The teams would split the next two lopsided contests on Friday (a 6-3 win) and Saturday (an 8-0 loss) in a series bumped up by a day because of the Easter holiday.
UH (16-13, 6-9 Big West) dropped to eighth place at the midpoint of the 30-game conference schedule and heightened the degree of difficulty to attain its goal of a championship in its final season in the league. The Rainbow Warriors are two games behind Cal State Northridge for fifth place and the last berth to the Big West championships at Irvine, Calif.
After Isaiah Magdaleno sparkled on Friday, UCSD (14-14, 10-2) hit three home runs off UH’s second ace Hekili Robello in the rubber match and four-hit the ‘Bows behind 5 2/3 innings of long relief by Austin Bowker. It was the third time UH was shut out this season.
Robello (5-2) managed to go six innings but saw his earned-run average spike from 2.48 to 3.33 with six runs absorbed.
In Thursday’s bullpen game, Liam O’Brien, Saul Soto and John Alkire yielded three runs apiece, with Alkire giving up two decisive doubles to Michael Crossland and J.C. Allen in the bottom of the eighth after UH had taken a 9-7 lead in the top half of the frame.
The ‘Bows return home to face UC Irvine (14-17, 6-6) in a three-game set at Les Murakami Stadium starting Friday. The Anteaters swept UC Davis this weekend.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.