Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Playing their first Big West baseball game away from the islands, the University of Hawaii’s hot bats were cooled off.
Andrew Thurman outdueled Connor Little, striking out eight Friday in 8 2/3 innings as Cal Irvine stopped the Warriors 4-1 in Irvine, Calif.
Little, a senior-right-hander, pitched his first complete game after falling behind early. Connor George had his nine-game hitting streak snapped for the Warriors (7-18, 2-2), who came in hitting .293 in their last two series.
But Hawaii managed just three hits — Kaeo Aliviado’s single in the first and singles by Austin Wobrock and Stephen Ventimilia in the ninth — against Thurman, who didn’t walk a batter and faced only one over the minimum through 8 1/3 innings before the Warriors scratched across an unearned run in the ninth.
The first three batter reached on hits in the bottom of the first as the Anteaters (18-8, 1-3) took a 2-0 lead, and Taylor Sparks led off the bottom of the fourth with his third home of the season.
Connor Spencer was 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI single in the first, and Chris Rabago finished 2 for 4.
Little (1-4) pitched eight innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. He struck out four and walked one.
Aliviado plated Hawaii’s lone run when he reached on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
That chased Thurman (3-3), and Race Parmenter got Marc Flores on a comebacker to the mound to end the game for his fifth save.
Hawaii 000 000 001 — 1 3 0
UC Irvine200 200 00x — 4 8 2