Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
The Hawaii Stars had seen Chad Blackwell before this season, but never like this.
Blackwell struck out 11 Wednesday night in a two-hit shutout to lift Na Koa Ikaiki Maui past the Stars 5-0 at Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku, Maui.
Hawaii beat Blackwell twice during a six-game Pacific Association baseball series in Maui in mid-June, combining to register 23 hits. On Wednesday, however, Blackwell (6-4) didn’t walk a batter while facing the minimum and yielding just two singles.
Dustin Smith singled for Hawaii in the fourth but was quickly erased when Katsuaki Furuki hit into a double play. In the seventh, Anthony Williams led off with single but was caught stealing.
Stars starter Devon Ramirez (3-3) allowed a run on a hit and three walks in 1 2/3 innings as Hawaii (21-26) saw its four-game winning streak end.
Maui (32-18) struck for four runs in the fifth against John Holley. Charlie Mirabal led off with a single, moved to second when Holley hit Ray Serrano and scored on Jeremy Williams’s RBI single. Maui scored two more runs when third baseman Felix Brown made an error on a ball hit by Angus Roeger.
Williams finished with two hits, including an RBI single in the first inning. Williams and Roeger drove in two runs and Serrano scored twice.
Holley allowed four runs —three earned — three hits, two walks and struck out two in 3 1/3 innings.
The the middle game of the five-game series is at 5 p.m. Thursday.