JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii’s Ben Ziegler-Namoa (4) celebrated with teammates after his go-ahead, two-run home run against UC Riverside in the seventh inning of the final game of their series at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu today.
The Hawaii baseball team overtook UC Riverside for a 10-5 victory today at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 2,253 saw the Rainbow Warriors sweep the three-game series and move into a tie for fourth place in the Big West. UH and Cal State Fullerton are both 13-11 in league play, although the ’Bows hold the tie-breaker. The top five teams qualify for the Big West Tournament.
The Highlanders took a 5-4 lead on two unique plays. With the bases loaded with one out, Lucas Bonham hit what appeared to be a double-play grounder toward UH second baseman Noah Rodriguez. But the ball struck second-base umpire Matt McMahon, who was unsuccessful in jumping out of the way. By rule, it was deemed an RBI single that tied it at 4 and reloaded the bases.
Andrew Rivas then hit a fly ball that center fielder Kamana Nahaku dropped. Nahaku threw to shortstop Taylor Takata for the force out at second as pinch runner Hunter Backstrom scored the go-ahead run.
“It’s part of the game,” Rodriguez said of the ball caroming off the umpire. “I know everybody’s blaming him, and he feels bad. I think if that would have beaten us, that’s not a good sign. We’re better than that. Sure enough, the game took care of itself.”
In particular, Ben Zeigler-Namoa gave the ’Bows a 6-5 lead with a towering two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. The ’Bows would score four more runs that inning to move out of reach.
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“Team was down one, and I tried to put the bat on ball, and execute for my guys,” Zeigler-Namoa said. “I got it in the air, and it was pretty cool.”
Takata, who moved up to the sixth spot in the order, went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Takata hit 6-for-10 in the series.
