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.
“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.
