RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UCR hosted Hawai'i at The Plex to start Big West play. The Rainbow Warriors entered the night with a 10-2 record, their two losses came against Wichita State and Northeastern. The Highlanders are off to a solid start at 8-5 and have not played since last Sunday when they split against Utah and CBU. Their game with Michigan was rained out.
Matthew O'Brien got the nod and the lefty battled. The game started off with Hawai'i putting two on the board in their half of the first. It started with a lead-off walk to Matthew Miura. After he stole second, he scored on a RBI double by Shunsuke Sakaino. He scored on a double by Ben Zeigler-Namoa.
Trailing 2-0, the Highlanders tied the game up in the bottom half of the frame. They faced starter Sebastian Gonzalez.
Robert Pitts singled to start the game for UCR. Pitts pushed his on base streak to 14 games for UCR.
Manoah Chapman jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the lineup and promptly doubled to score Pitts. Trailing 2-1 Chapman scored on an error by Elijah Ickes making it 2-2.
The Highlanders took the lead in the bottom of the second on a RBI single by Pitts, scoring
David Whittle who walked to start the inning. UCR took the 3-2 lead.
The Rainbow Warriors took the lead back in the top of the third when Ickes took O'Brien deep to left. The two-run blast put Hawai'i up 4-3. O'Brien was lifted three batters later in favor of
Matthew Flores, who got the Highlanders out of the third.
In the bottom of the third the Highlanders struck back scoring two runs and taking a 5-4 lead. UCR scored in each of the first three innings. Chapman scored on a wild pitch and UCR took the lead on a single by
Tyler Gordon to drive home
Griffin Harrison.
The see-saw battle extended to top of the fourth as the Rainbow Warrior pushed four across in the inning. A combination of walks and timely hitting put Hawai'i up 8-5.
The Rainbow Warriors put up a five spot in the top of the fifth and all the runs came with two outs. Walks and a single and Hawai'i seized control, 13-5.
Hawai'i pushed another across in the top of the seventh to take a 14-5 lead. But the Highlanders loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. And for the second straight inning they left the bases loaded.
In the top of the ninth, the Rainbow Warriors pushed three more across and took a 17-5 lead and that's how the game ended.
Back at it tomorrow at high noon for game two of the series.
