Hawai'i Salvages Win in Final Game of Big West Series at Cal Poly, 7-6

Sunday, April 14

1 pm

23-9, 6-3

Hawai'i

8-24, 3-6

Hawai'i

Cal Poly

Hawai'i Salvages Win in Final Game of Big West Series at Cal Poly, 7-6

4/14/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Hawai'i scored five times in the first three innings and No. 20 Cal Poly couldn't catch up, pulling to within a run twice, as the Rainbows held on for a 7-6 victory in the finale of a Big West Conference baseball series Sunday afternoon before 1,482 in Baggett Stadium.

The loss dropped Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs to 24-9 on the year and 6-3 in the Big West for second place, two games behind No. 4 Cal State Fullerton (31-5, 8-1 Big West), which suffered its first conference loss of the year, falling 2-0 to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. Hawai'i is 8-24 and 3-6.

Cal Poly hosts Cal State Fullerton next weekend in Baggett Stadium.

Third baseman Pi'ikea Kitamura went 4-for-5 while second baseman Andre Real was 3-for-5 and each drove in a pair of runs to power Hawai'i's 13-hit offensive attack. Right fielder Conner George and first baseman Max Duval each added two hits for the Rainbows.

Cal Poly, held to seven hits by Corey MacDonald and Scott Squier, only stranded five runners on the basepaths, but two were at third base and another was left at second base.

MacDonald (4-3) earned the win despite allowing six runs and seven hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out two. Squier earned his first save by pitching two scoreless frames in relief of MacDonald. He struck out two.

The loss went to Mustang starter Bryan Granger (5-3), who gave up four runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings, his shortest stint as a starter in his two years with the Mustangs. Granger also pitched 1 2/3 innings in a start against UC Davis a year ago.

Junior right-hander Michael Holback (pictured above) kept Cal Poly in the game by pitching five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with six strikeouts. Reed Reilly, who earned his ninth save Saturday, was summoned from the bullpen to secure the final two outs in the ninth inning Sunday.

Cal Poly erased most of Hawai'i's early 5-0 lead with four runs off MacDonald in the third inning. Senior second baseman Denver Chavez singled to drive in two, junior third baseman Jimmy Allen's sacrifice fly tallied the third run and a wild pitch resulted in the fourth Mustang run.

After Hawai'i scored twice for a 7-4 lead in the fourth, Cal Poly tallied single runs in the seventh and eighth frames. Senior catcher Elliot Stewart doubled off the left-center field wall to knock in the run in the seventh and freshman designated hitter Brian Mundell's sacrifice fly closed the gap to one run in the eighth.

Stewart was at second with one out and the top of the order at the plate following his double in the seventh, but a grounder and flyout ended the threat. Sophomore right fielder Nick Torres, who had doubled in the eighth inning, was at third with one out before Squier recorded a strikeout and groundout to quell the rally. Chavez was hit by a pitch with two outs in the ninth, but Squier induced a grounder to third to end the game.

Junior center fielder David Armendariz singled twice to lead Cal Poly offensively. Torres and Stewart added doubles.

Cal Poly's four-game winning streak came to an end as did Hawai'i's seven-game losing streak. The Rainbows earned their first true road win in nine tries; they also picked up a neutral-field victory in the UNLV Invitational last month.

The Mustangs won the first two games of the series, 8-3 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday, and have won seven of nine series this season. Cal Poly is now 9-4 in one-run games.

Cal Poly hit just .239 for the series while Hawai'i, which entered the series with a .226 team batting average, hit .250 against the Mustangs. Chavez was 5-for-12 in the series with two RBI and four runs scored while Allen was 4-for-10 with a triple and three RBI.

Prior to the series against Cal State Fullerton this weekend, Cal Poly will host Santa Clara (9-24, 0-12 West Coast) for a single non-conference game Tuesday night at 6 in Baggett Stadium.