Hawaii baseball: Aaron Davenport, Bows’ bats ignite to take 2-game series lead against Oregon
A perfect storm of dominant pitching and active bats put the Hawaii baseball team over the Oregon Ducks in Game 2 of the nonconference series at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night.
The Rainbow Warriors scored 13 runs on 15 hits, both season highs. Starting pitcher Aaron Davenport capitalized on the offensive fireworks, working through seven dominant innings on the mound to pick up the 13-5 win, his fourth of the season.
“It was good,” Davenport said of his performance. “Our offense obviously helped a ton. Personally I felt like I had good command. I wasn’t pitching for strikeouts, they just kind of came with quality pitches, so overall, I’m happy with my outing.”
@aarondav34 talks about his dominant performance on the mound. Davenport finished with a season-best 9 strikeouts, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs in seven innings pitched. He threw a career high 111 pitches.#HawaiiBSB | @hawaiiwworld pic.twitter.com/xf79eBs2XC
— 陳威廷 Jonathan Chen (@jonchen50) March 7, 2020
Davenport gave up five hits and two earned runs in seven innings, while his nine strikeouts fell just one shy of tying a career best. He also threw a career-high 111, of which 75 were strikes. Junior Calvin Turchin came on to relieve Davenport in the eighth inning, giving up three hits and three unearned runs in two innings pitched. He also picked up a pair of strikeouts, including the one that ended the game in the ninth.
At the top of the batting order, sophomore Scotty Scott and junior Kole Kaler each picked up game-best three RBIs. Scott finished with three hits in five at-bats, with a pair of runs to go along with his three RBIs. Kaler wasn’t far behind with two hits in four at-bats, while also picking up a run.
“We came in today more locked in than yesterday, a little more focused,” Kaler said. “We just wanted to build on what we did yesterday.”
“Anytime you get a few hits to help the ‘Bows win, that’s a good day,” Scott added. “The goal of the game is to score more runs than they do. I stepped on the plate, as did the rest of the team, more than they did, so it’s a good day.”
@KoleKaler picks up right where he left off yesterday, plating @TylerBestt and @campdaddeh7 with a 2-RBI single to right field.
4-0 Hawaii.#HawaiiBSB | @hawaiiwworld pic.twitter.com/56EfhO1wqg
— Jonathan Chen 🧢 (@jonchen50) March 7, 2020
Scott and Kaler were two of seven ‘Bows to notch RBIs. Redshirt junior Adam Fogel, sophomore Dallas Duarte, redshirt junior Alex Baeza, junior Matt Wong, and redshirt junior Matt Campos each picked up an RBI to round out an 11-RBI performance for Hawaii. Fogel led that group with a 3-for-4 outing, including hits in each of his first three at-bats.
“You don’t anticipate, against Oregon, being able to put up a six-run (second) inning,” head coach Mike Trapasso said. We got some breaks, and we got some hits. For the most part, for all intents and purposes, we were able to put the game to bed.”
The 13 runs and 13 hits tonight are both season highs for the Rainbow Warriors, surpassing the previous mark of 11 for each category.
The last time Hawaii scored 13 or more runs in a game came on April 13, 2019 against UC Riverside.#HawaiiBSB | @hawaiiwworld
— Jonathan Chen 🧢 (@jonchen50) March 7, 2020
The series continues Saturday night. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.
Ahhh Johnathan, it’s 13 runs on 15 hits.
Apologies for that, thanks for pointing that out. Just made the change to the article!