University of Hawai‘i starting pitcher Mark Rodrigues gave up two runs to pick up the Rainbows’ second win in a series against Santa Clara yesterday, 5-4. Rodrigues, a graduate of Kaua‘i High School, allowed seven hits while walking one and
University of Hawai‘i starting pitcher Mark Rodrigues gave up two runs to pick up the Rainbows’ second win in a series against Santa Clara yesterday, 5-4.
Rodrigues, a graduate of Kaua‘i High School, allowed seven hits while walking one and striking out one in 5.1 innings.
Tyler Davis came in to close, allowing two runs on three hits in 3.2 innings for his first save of the year.
Playing before a crowd of 2,270 at the Les Murakami Stadium, Jorge Franco led Hawai‘i from the plate, going 2-4 with a home run.
Evan Zimny (1-3) added two RBI, a double and a run while Brandon Haislet (1-3) ended with a double and an RBI.
Santa Clara opened the scoring in the second inning with two runs on a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single by Ryan Conan.
Hawai‘i came back in the fourth, tying the score on Zimny’s two-run double to center, scoring Kris Sanchez and Haislet. Ryan Asato and Nathan Young followed with RBI singles for a 4-2 lead.
In the seventh, the Broncos cut the deficit to 4-3 on an run-scoring double from Nathan Faulkner, but Hawai‘i responded with Franco’s first career home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh.
Santa Clara added a run in the eighth and got a lead-off single in the top of the ninth, but Hawai‘i squelched the rally when Davis got a fly ball and a force out before Young snagged a line drive to end it.
The two teams close out the series today at 1:05 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.
