For the Hawaii baseball team, there was no moral victory, no consolation in fighting the good fight against one of the country’s best college baseball teams and pitchers.
Three days after falling to top-ranked UCLA, the Rainbow Warriors could not keep pace in Friday’s 12-4 loss to sixth-ranked Oregon State in the opener of a three-game series at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore. This is the ’Bows’ bye week from Big West competition.
Every batter in the OSU lineup had at least one hit as the Beavers amassed 15 hits and scored in six of their eight innings.
Dax Whitney, a consensus Freshman All-American last year, was not at his best. He allowed a season-high four runs, three of them earned, before exiting with two outs in the seventh. Whitney appeared to be in discomfort after throwing a 3-1 pitch to Noah Rodriguez. Whitney signaled to the OSU dugout for assistance. A trainer spoke with Whitney, then escorted him to the training room. Whitney returned to the dugout in the eighth inning, but there was no immediate update on his condition.
“All I know is when you line up against somebody, you’re trying to beat ’em,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “I don’t care where they’re ranked or if this pitcher is good. Our guys are just as good as anybody in the country. I don’t really buy into (moral victories).”
The ’Bows scored in their first at-bat when center fielder Kamana Nahaku smacked a leadoff homer, his second of the season.
It was the fifth home run allowed by Whitney, who entered with a 1.76 ERA and 0.94 WHIP while averaging 15.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Whitney struck out two of the next three ’Bows.
The Beavers responded with three runs in the first inning and another in the second.
The ’Bows closed to 4-3 on Tate Shimao’s two-run homer in the third. After the Beavers extended their lead to 6-3, the ’Bows answered with Ben Zeigler-Namoa’s run-scoring groundout in the fifth.
The ’Bows “kept coming back,” Hill said. “We punched them in the jaw, similar to UCLA. We couldn’t contain it.”
A single and ensuing error allowed two Beavers to cross the plate in the fifth inning.
Shortstop Tyler Inge’s run-scoring single made it 9-4 in the bottom of the seventh.
Adam Haight’s three-run blast in the eighth was the proverbial dagger.
In a difficult start, UH’s Isaiah Magdaleno allowed seven hits, two walks and six runs in 21⁄3 innings. The first five Beavers reached base on three singles and two walks in the first inning before Magdaleno recorded an out.
The leadoff batters in the first three innings all reached base against Magdaleno.
Hill said Magdaleno’s pitch count was kept low — he threw strikes on 37 of 63 pitches — to keep him fresh for the stretch run when the ’Bows resume Big West play next weekend.
Hill also praised reliever Ryan Inouye, who struck out six and allowed one earned run in 31⁄3 innings.
“I thought Ryan Inouye was awesome,” Hill said. “I thought that was his coming-out party as a Rainbow Warrior. Perfect timing down the stretch. We’re going to need him. I thought that was great.”
Hill added: “I thought Kamana Nahaku continued with his hot bat. Same thing with Tate Shimao. There are positives to be taken from this, especially on the offensive side.”