Hawai'i Holds off CSUN, 5-3

HONOLULU---CSUN Baseball (17-24, 5-8 BWC) dropped a 5-3 decision to Hawai'i on Friday evening at Les Murakami Stadium. Senior Riley Conlan went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double while senior Nolan Bumstead drove in the Matadors' third run in the ballgame. Junior Walker Armstrong took a no hitter into the fifth and finished with 4.2 innings pitched and three runs allowed. Hawai'i broke open a scoreless game in the fifth and held on late to take the series opener.

Half of Friday's contest took the form of a pitcher's duel as Armstrong and Jackson Rees took turns baffling the opposing hitters.

Armstrong cruised through the first three innings, retiring nine of the first 10 batters. In the fourth, Armstrong would strike out the first batter before working himself into trouble. After walking a batter, Armstrong hit Dustin Demeter to put two runners on base with two outs. However, he tiptoed out of trouble by fanning Ethan Lopez to keep the Rainbow Warriors off the scoreboard.

On the flip side, Rees kept the Matador bats at bay throughout most of the evening. Rees surrendered just a hit through the first four innings and allowed one base runner to reach scoring position. The Matadors did threaten in the fifth after Brandon Bohning reached on an error and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ben Martz. However, Rees retired two of the next three batters to maintain the shutout.

Still without a hit, the Rainbow Warriors finally found success against Armstrong in the bottom of the fifth. Logan Pouelsen broke up Armstrong's no-hit bid with a leadoff single then Alex Baeza worked a walk. After a sacrifice bunt, Maaki Yamazaki singles in two runs with a shot up the middle. Two batters later, Adam Fogel stroked an RBI single to push the lead to 3-0.

CSUN quickly answered back in the top of the sixth behind a timely two-out hit. Albee Weiss singled to start the frame and later reached second base on a groundout. Conlan would come through with a single into left center field, scoring Weiss.

Hawai'i added two key insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Kekai Rios two-out, two-run single. Jayson Newman wiggled out of trouble by inducing a 4-3 double play, leaving two runners on the base paths, but the Rainbow Warriors led 5-1 after seven innings.

The Matadors finally knocked out Rees in the eighth inning as they pulled to within two runs. Justin Toerner reached on a hit by pitch to start the inning before hustling up to second base on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Bumstead rifled an RBI single up the middle. Conlan later collected another two-out hit, a double, that scored Bumstead and brought CSUN within 5-3.

CSUN was able to get the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth after Trevor Casanova delivered a pinch-hit single. A comeback would not be in the cards though as closer Dylan Thomas retired the next three batters to nail down the save.

For Hawai'i, Ress tossed 7.1 innings allowing three runs on four hits to go with eight strikeouts. Yamazaki collected two hits, two runs and two RBI.

Out of the CSUN bullpen, Newman pitched 0.2 innings, allowing no runs while Wesley Moore worked a clean bottom of the eighth.

Casanova's pinch-hit single in the top of the ninth extended his hitting streak to a team-best 12-straight games. The Matador backstop has hit safely in 34 of 41 games on the year.

The Matadors look to even the series with the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday evening. First pitch is slated for 9:35 p.m. (PT).

Players Mentioned

Walker Armstrong

Brandon Bohning

Nolan Bumstead

Trevor Casanova

Riley Conlan

Ben Martz

Wesley Moore

Jayson Newman

Justin Toerner

Albee Weiss