Baseball Bows split series with No. 9 Oregon

By Fred Guzman

After a promising 2-0 start in a season-opening series against nationally ninth-ranked Oregon, the Hawaii baseball team had to settle for a split with the Ducks.

UH posted back-to-back comeback victories on Friday and Saturday before being limited to one hit in a 4-0 loss on Sunday. But it was Monday’s 4-3 setback that really bugged the fans at Les Murakami Stadium.

That’s because Hawaii was deprived of a chance at another comeback bid when the game was called after eight innings due to Oregon’s travel arrangements.

Aaron Jones hit a solo home run and Danny Pulfer scored the eventual winning run on a throwing error by catcher David Peterson, providing the Ducks with the margin of victory.

Kolten Wong and Collin Bennett finished with two hits apiece and Zack Swasey added an RBI double for Hawaii.

UH continues its season-opening seven-game homestand with a three-game set against No. 6 Texas beginning Friday.

WAHINE SOFTBALL: The ninth-ranked Rainbow Wahine softball team is off to a 9-1 start and Jessica Iwata. Through 10 games, the sophomore shortstop from Kauai is hitting .412 and has seven of Hawaii’s 21 homers. Six of those homers came over a five-game span in the Desert Classic over the weekend. Iwata also drove in 10 runs during the tournament to earn MVP honors. UH continues its road trip with a doubleheader at UC Riverside today and plays in the Cathedral City Classic starting Thursday.

UH HOOPS: Whatever differences existed between sophomore forward Joston Thomas and head coach Gib Arnold appeared to have been resolved. Thomas was AWOL for about a week, but has since reaffirmed his commitment to the UH men’s basketball team. Reduced playing time is the likely reason for Thomas not attending practices and missing Saturday’s road victory over UC Davis. The 6-7, 245-pounder is among the team’s most versatile players, ranking third in scoring and rebounding with averages of 10.4 and 5.8, respectively.

The sixth-place Rainbows are currently 15-10 overall and find themselves sixth in the WAC with a 5-7 mark going into their final two home games of the season. UH takes faces last-place Louisiana Tech on Thursday and second-place New Mexico State on Saturday.

Meantime, senior point guard Hiram Thompson, the other regular starter not to play in the Rainbows’ win at UC Davis, is still optimistic he can return from the arm injury he suffered last week.