NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Fueled by a combined shutout on the mound and some clutch hitting, the Hawai’i baseball team opened its series at CSUN with a 7-0 win Friday.
The win extended UH’s winning streak to four games and keeps the ‘Bows in the hunt in The Big West title race, now tied with the Matadors for fourth place in the conference with five games remaining.
Harry Gustin, Alex Giroux and Harrison Bodendorf teamed up to blank the top offense in The Big West while scattering six hits and striking out eight. Gustin went the first five innings to earn the win, fanning five and working around four hits and five walks before turning it over to Giroux, who worked a scoreless sixth inning. Bodendorf took it from there, striking out two and allowing just one hit over the final three innings to get his fourth save.
The Rainbow Warriors (26-18, 15-10 Big West) got on the board first thanks to three straight singles to start the second inning. Stone Miyao led off with a base hit before moving to third on a Ben Zeigler-Namoa single. Jared Quandt cashed in Miyao one batter later with a base knock through the right side, making it 1-0.
UH added a run in the third with a two-out rally. After two quick outs, Jacob Igawa and Miyao singled to put runners on first and second for Zeigler-Namoa, who drove in Igawa with his second hit of the game to stretch the lead to 2-0.
The ‘Bows finally broke things open in the eighth with five runs, four of which came with two outs, to take a 7-0 lead. Jordan Donahue plated the first run with a one-out suicide squeeze to make it 3-0 before Matt Wong drove in the second run of the frame with a two-out base knock to right center. Igawa followed two batters later with a single up the middle to score Wong, and Miyao delivered the dagger with a two-run triple down the right field line to cap off the big inning.
The No. 4-7 batters did the majority of the damage for Hawai’I, as Igawa, Miyao, Zeigler-Namoa and Quandt combined to go 11-for-18 with five RBIs. Igawa went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored while Zeigler-Namoa and Miyao each went 3-for-5 and Quandt was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
The shutout was the fourth of the year by UH pitching, with Gustin getting the start in three of those. Additionally, the Matadors (29-17, 15-10 Big West) were shutout for the first time all year as the ‘Bows held CSUN to 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
The ‘Bows and Matadors continue their series Saturday at 11 a.m. HT.
