LIHU‘E — Seemingly headed to their first road victory of the young season, the ‘Bows saw their 5-0 lead swiftly vanish before dropping to Loyola Marymount, 7-5, Thursday in Los Angeles. The University of Hawai‘i (3-5) scored a pair of
LIHU‘E — Seemingly headed to their first road victory of the young season, the ‘Bows saw their 5-0 lead swiftly vanish before dropping to Loyola Marymount, 7-5, Thursday in Los Angeles.
The University of Hawai‘i (3-5) scored a pair of fourth-inning runs and then three more in the fifth for the five-run advantage, but LMU (8-2) came back with five in the sixth to even things up. It then added one apiece in the seventh and eighth innings to create the final margin.
Blair Walters (2-1) took the loss for UH, giving up one run in 1.0 inning of work in relief of starter Matt Sisto, who threw 5.2 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits.
Kolten Wong, Zack Swasey, Sean Montplaisir and Jeffrey Van Doornum each had two hits and one run scored for the ‘Bows. Montplaisir drove in one, while Van Doornum and Wong each swiped their third stolen bases of the year.
Colin Bennett and David Peterson each had a hit and an RBI, while Pi‘ikea Kitamura and Breland Almadova each drove in a run.
Matt Koch was 3 for 5 with a run and an RBI for LMU, while Bret Dahlson went 2 for 3 with a sole home run. Shon Roe and Alex Guthrie each had a pair of RBIs.
After the opening three innings went scoreless, Van Doornum led off the fourth with a walk, then stole second. A Bennett single and a Peterson walk loaded the bases with no outs. Kitamura grounded out to score Van Doornum, then Almadova sac bunted Bennett in for a 2-0 lead.
Back-to-back singles from Wong and Swasey opened the fifth, followed by Montplaisir’s single to drive in Wong. Van Doornum then loaded the bases on an error by the pitcher. Bennett brought home Swasey on a ground out for a 4-0 lead before Peterson singled in Montplaisir.
Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth, LMU put together a two-out rally on five straight hits and were aided with an error by Wong that scored the tying run, before the ‘Bows got out of the inning. Sisto left the game after giving up four of the five straight hits, Hawai‘i holding a 5-4 lead.
Walters got the first two batters in the seventh, but then walked back-to-back hitters, bringing Zach Gallagher to the mound as the team’s third pitcher of the day. He gave up a single to Guthrie to bring home the go-ahead run, before striking out the final batter with the bases loaded.
After LMU added an insurance run in the eighth for the 7-5 lead, Swasey and Montplaisir led off the ninth with back-to-back strikeouts. UH did get the tying run to the plate as Van Doornum doubled to bring up Bennett, but pitcher Ryan Hawthorne induced the ground out to end the game and pick up the save, his fourth of the season.
Jason Wheeler (2-0) got the win for LMU, going 7.0 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits, walking three and striking out six.
UH and LMU play game two of the series today at 1 p.m. PT (11 a.m. HT).
