A dramedy of errors and ejections dissolved into Hawaii’s 5-4 baseball loss to UC Irvine at Les Murakami Stadium on Monday night.
A dramedy of errors and ejections dissolved into Hawaii’s 5-4 baseball loss to UC Irvine at Les Murakami Stadium on Monday night.
A crowd of 1,077 saw UH coach Mike Trapasso, third baseman Josh Rojas and first baseman Eric Ramirez ejected. After being called out on a controversial pickoff call in the second inning, Rojas was ejected for an ensuing hold-me-back argument with UCI shortstop Christian Koss. Soon after, Trapasso was tossed after running onto the field to protest Rojas’ ejection.
At the start of the fifth, Ramirez was ejected after it was ruled he threw balls in the direction of the third-base umpire Carl Coles during warmups.
In accordance with NCAA rules, Rojas will be suspended for Friday’s opener of a three-game road series against Long Beach State. Ramirez will receive an automatic four-game suspension for conduct that was deemed to be detrimental to the sport. Trapasso faces no further sanctions.
“I was obviously gone by then,” Trapasso said of Ramirez’s ejection. “I don’t know what Eric was thinking. From what I heard, from what I saw on television from where I was watching, there’s no place for that in our program. And it won’t be tolerated. We love Eric, but that’s unacceptable and embarrassing what he did. I’ll talk to him (today), and we’ll go from there.”
The game was played on Monday because the stadium was used as part of Saturday’s UH graduation festivities. The unique date was reflected in an unusually played game.
Down 5-0 and without their best corner infielders, the ‘Bows still managed to add a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and another in the sixth to close to 5-4.
“That hole was too big to come back from,” second baseman Johnny Weeks said. “And we didn’t have our bats tonight. That was a tough one.”
The outcome spoiled a gritty performance from Jackson Rees, who spaced nine hits and was victimized by three unearned runs in seven innings.
“It was unfortunate,” Trapasso said. “I was proud of the way Jackson pitched. He got out of it with 35 pitches (in the second) inning and ended up giving us seven strong. I’m really proud of him for that.”
But it was a bumbling second inning that set the tone with the Anteaters surging to a 4-0 lead.
The Anteaters loaded the bases with one out. Catcher Alex Guenette grounded to shortstop Dustin Demeter, who threw wide to Weeks at second, allowing Adrian Damla to score from third and refilling the bases.
Evan Cassolato grounded to Weeks, who lost control of the ball while trying to transfer it from his glove to his right hand. Cole Kreuter scored on Weeks’ error to make it 2-0. Adam Alcantara’s sacrifice fly delivered the Anteaters’ third run.
After Keston Hiura walked, Ryan Fitzpatrick hit an RBI single to deep short.
In the bottom of the second, Rojas singled and Adam Fogel walked. Cole Spear then fired to Koss to pick off Rojas at second. While Rojas pleaded his case to umpire Coles, Koss stepped in front of Rojas. During that confrontation, Coles ejected Rojas. Coles then made it a 2-for-1 when he ousted Trapasso for his animated argument.
“We didn’t take care of the baseball,” Trapasso said. “That was really the story of the game.”
In the UH fourth, the ‘Bows had runners on first and second with two outs. Ramirez pulled a single to right to score Kekai Rios from second. But Fogel was called out on a relay throw to third. Ramirez stayed at his position at first, but then was ejected after throwing warmup grounders toward the umpire.