FULLERTON, CALIF. >> The Hawaii baseball team’s comeback fell short in today’s 7-5 loss to top-seeded UC Irvine in the double-elimination segment of the Big West Championship tournament at Goodwin Field.
Down four runs and facing the Anteaters’ most successful reliever, UH’s Ben Zeigler-Namoa smacked a three-run homer — his second in as many days — off Ricky Ojeda to close the Rainbow Warriors to 6-5 in the top of the seventh.
But Will Bermudez singled home Blake Penso for an insurance run in the eighth. Max Martin got the final five outs for his league-leading 14th save. Ojeda, who pitched three innings in relief of Riley Kelly, earned the victory to improve to 13-0.
The outcome sent the ’Bows into Friday’s last-chance round. They will face the loser of tonight’s game between Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton.
“I want to tip the cap to UC Irvine,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “They used Ricky Ojeda in the right spots all season long. That’s why he’s the conference pitcher of the year. I thought Max Martin came in and did a good job. They did a great job of matchups. And they’re very well coached. I love our guys. I think we out-hit ’em. That’s the No. 20 team in the country. Just putting together solid at bats just every inning. … Man, we’ve got some grinders on the team.”
UCI coach said the Anteaters’ 40th victory “was kind of emblematic of a lot of our wins this year. We scored first. We get a good enough start. We go to Ojeda. We go to Max. … Some really good defense. Will (Bermudez) makes a great play in that game, a 5-4-3 double play. (Center fielder Jacob) McComb’s really good catch. (Right fielder) Chase (Call) with a good play going right.”
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UH starting pitcher Itsuki Takemoto, who was charged with four earned runs, exited after hitting James Castagnola with a pitch leading off the second inning. Liam O’Brien, Ethan Thomas and Freddy Rodriguez combined to allow four hits and one run the next seven innings.
