In a similar fashion to how Hawaiʻi was able to capitalize on mistakes Saturday night, UC San Diego did the same with the Rainbow Warrior baseball team’s miscues to cruise to an 11-2 win on Sunday.
A crowd of 1,476 at Les Murakami Stadium saw UC San Diego score six runs over the first two innings and hold Hawai‘i (16-13, 6-6 Big West) hitless for the first five innings, taking the final game of the three-game series between the two teams.
“They took advantage of a couple of miscues, [we] got behind early, and they really pitched well,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “I don’t think we had a hit until the sixth inning and they really put it on us from an offensive standpoint. The team that deserved to win the game won the game.”
Brandon Larson went 3-for-5 with six RBIs for UC San Diego (22-12, 11-4), including a bases-clearing three-run triple in the seventh inning that put the Tritons up 11-2. Doyle Kane and Crew Robinson each drove in two more runs for UC San Diego, who had 13 hits in total.
“What we did better today was we were more aggressive in the strike zone,” UC San Diego coach Eric Newman said. “We just seem to be more committed to our swing and committed to throwing strikes — we just look like a different team.”
Aren Alvarez pitched the first two innings for UC San Diego before Nic Gregson (4-1) entered and pitched five innings, allowing the two UH runs on four hits while striking out five.
Matt Wong and Jacob Igawa each drove in a run in the sixth inning for the ‘Bows on RBI singles. Wong finished with two of the five total hits UH had on the day.
Alex Giroux (3-1) was charged with the loss for UH after going 1⅓ innings in his start, allowing four runs (two unearned) on three hits. Giroux also hit a pair of batters and had a throwing error in his appearance.
“It wasn’t his day,” Hill said. “No excuses, not tired. Just wasn’t real aggressive like the Alex we’ve seen, but he’ll take everything from this outing, learn from it, and be better next week.”
UH plays host to Long Beach State for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 6:35 p.m. HST.