Hawaii falls short of Big West tournament with loss to Cal State Fullerton
· Yahoo Sports
IRVINE, Calif. — The University of Hawaii baseball season — and an era — came to a crashing conclusion on a cool Wednesday evening in Orange County.
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The Rainbow Warriors’ final season as a Big West member ended with 5-1 loss to Cal State Fullerton in the play-in game of the league’s postseason tournament at Anteater Ballpark on the UC Irvine campus. On July 1, the ’Bows join 14 other UH programs in seceding from the Big West after 14 years and moving to the Mountain West.
It ended with the league’s hottest pitcher, UH right-hander Isaiah Magdaleno, having what was admittedly not his best night.
It ended against CSUF’s Mikiah Negrete, who once again mystified the ’Bows. In March, Negrete shut out the ’Bows on two hits. On Wednesday, he pitched a six-hitter for his third complete game.
UH coach Rich Hill said Negrete was a “buzzsaw.” Negrete, a left-hander with a gyrating four-hitch delivery, carved the ’Bows with a slider that broke to the left or right at his command.
“He had our number again,” Hill said. “That’s a complete game, (which is) hard to do in under 100 pitches. He didn’t walk anybody.”
Negrete said the strategy was to keep the pitches down in the zone and mix sliders with heat to counter the ’Bows’ aggressive offense.
“Hawaii has always been a team that likes to come out swinging and likes to do damage,” Negrete said. “The game plan we put together for them was to try to generate soft contact and flip the lineup over. That was how I was able to get guys out of the box quickly and keep rolling through innings, giving our defense less time on their feet and (more time to) compete in the box. It started rolling little by little. Just keep flowing on the mound and keep them off balance.”
Negrete struck out seven and induced 12 groundouts. Negrete retired nine in a row before yielding a one-out single to Tate Shimao in the sixth. But then Ben Zeigler-Namoa grounded into a double play. The ’Bows also could not cash in with runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh.
“Last time we faced him, we kind of lost our competitiveness,” Zeigler-Namoa said. “I thought we competed today. I think we just didn’t get that timely hit. And I think the bats kind of went silent at the end.”
Both teams fought their way into the five-team tournament. The ’Bows clinched a spot with two games remaining in the regular season. The Titans waited until the last day to qualify.
“This team has been through a lot of adversity,” Dietrich said. “They’ve grinded through a lot of things internally through injuries. At the end of the day, they found a way to play some better baseball at the back end. They came in today with the same thing. It was win or go home. They came in and competed at a high level.”
Dietrich said he expected a “dog fight” in the matchup of two aces. In the previous three starts covering 26 innings, Magdaleno allowed one run and six hits while striking out 39.
“We knew it could be a pitcher’s duel, and it was a pitchers’ duel for a while,” Dietrich said. “You’ve got two first-team guys, all-conference, going against each other.”
Magdaleno had worked out of several jams. In the third, CSUF’s Nick Miller doubled and came home on a single by Paul Contreras, the league’s Field Player of the Year. That run ended Magdaleno’s streak of 12 consecutive scoreless innings. Evan Rolbiecki, who drove in UH’s run on an RBI groundout, saved two runs on an acrobatic catch against the fence in left field. Third baseman Tate Shimao also made a sprawling grab of a line drive.
“It felt like we were cliff-hanging all day,” Hill said.
Magdaleno exited after hitting Fullerton’s Cam Burdick with a pitch with one out in the seventh and the score tied at 1-all. Hill noted Magdaleno was facing the top of the order for the fourth time. Magdaleno’s fastball also was missing a skosh outside of the zone
“I felt it was the right time to go to (Tsubasa) Tomii,” Hill said.
Magdaleno said: “I didn’t have my best stuff. When it comes to the fourth time around, he’s got to make a decision. It’s Coach Hill’s decision. … Obviously, the competitor in me wants to finish the inning. But I trust Tomii with the guys I leave on base. … I’d do it over again. Today wasn’t my day.”
Miller hit a grounder up the middle that just eluded the reach of shortstop Taylor Takata. Tomii then skipped a pitch that ricocheted past catcher Jake Redding. Burdick went to third on the wild pitch while Miller remained at first.
Estaban Olazaba pushed a bunt down the first-base line. First baseman Josh Martin fielded the suicide squeeze as Burdick raced home for a 2-1 lead. First base umpire Lee Meyers ruled Martin missed the tag on Olazaba as Miller advanced to second. Replays appeared to show that Martin applied the tag and that Olazaba also had veered out of the base path. But the call stood without a video review, and Tomii was pulled.
Brody Martin-Grudzielanek entered, issued a walk to load the bases, and then also was replaced. Hekili Robello, who was scheduled to be Thursday’s starting pitcher if UH advanced, then unleashed a wild pitch to extend the Titans’ lead to 3-1.
“There’s no tomorrow,” Hill said of using potential starters Robello and Martin-Grudzielanek. “Why save anybody?”
In the top of the ninth, the ’Bows had a chance to keep it a two-run game. But a sure double-play grounder turned into a throwing error, eventually leading to two more Titan runs.
CAL STATE FULLERTON 5, HAWAII 1
TITANS
PLAYER
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
LOB
Miller 2b
5
2
3
0
0
0
0
Olazaba 3b
3
1
2
1
2
1
0
Contreras dh
4
0
1
2
1
0
0
Kim ss
4
0
1
0
1
1
3
Kirchner rf/1b
4
0
1
1
0
1
4
Ortega 1b
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
Hart rf
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
Meyer lf
4
0
0
0
0
2
0
Lombardi c
4
0
0
0
0
2
1
Burdick cf
3
2
1
0
0
0
0
Totals
36
5
9
4
4
7
10
RAINBOW WARRIORS
PLAYER
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
LOB
Nahaku cf
4
0
2
0
0
1
0
Shimao 3b
4
0
1
0
0
0
0
Z.-Namoa rf/1b
4
0
0
0
0
1
1
Redding c
4
0
1
0
0
1
1
Lau Kong dh
4
1
1
0
0
2
0
Martin 1b
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
Wright pr/rf
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rolbiecki lf
3
0
0
1
0
0
0
Watanabe 2b
3
0
0
0
0
0
2
Takata ss
3
0
0
0
0
2
0
Totals
32
1
6
1
0
7
4
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
CS Fullerton
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
0
2
5
9
0
Hawaii
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
2
PITCHING & GAME NOTES
CAL STATE FULLERTON
PITCHER
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
Negrete (W, 9-4)
9
6
1
1
0
7
HAWAII
PITCHER
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
Magdaleno (L, 7-5)
6 ⅓
6
2
2
1
4
Tomii
0
2
1
1
0
0
Martin-Grudzielanek
0
0
0
0
1
0
Robello
2 ⅔
1
2
1
2
3
Records: Cal State Fullerton (24-30), Hawaii (27-23)
E—Watanabe, Robello. DP—Cal State Fullerton 1. 2B—Miller, Kirchner, Burdick; Martin. HBP—Burdick. SH—Kirchner.
Note: Tomii pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Martin-Grudzielanek pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
WP—Negrete; Tomii, Robello. HB—Magdaleno.
Umpires—HP: Jason Venzon. 1B: Lee Meyers. 2B: Dave Buck. 3B: Dax Upton. T—3:03. A—867.