HONOLULU — Stone Miyao gave the Hawaii baseball team a heck of a consolation prize.
The second baseman’s walk-off homer against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night — his second in two nights after going without a long ball the previous 47 games of 2023 — sent the Rainbow Warriors into the summer with something to feel good about, a 13-11 victory and series sweep of the postseason-contending Gauchos.
Headed into the week, UH knew it came up a couple games short of contention for the Big West title. But that seemed to have no effect on the ‘Bows’ on-field demeanor as they played as if there were big stakes; they swept the Gauchos for the first time in their decade as conference opponents. UH last took a series from UCSB in 2017.
“We don’t change anything. Playoffs or not, we’re still going to come out hard and give it everything we got,” Miyao said after Friday night’s 8-5 win.
“It just felt great to come out and compete at our best, everybody hitting, everybody coming together.”
UH closed the year at 29-20 and 18-12 in the Big West for a tie for fifth place in the 11-team league. It swept its last three conference series at Les Murakami Stadium. The finale was a sellout of nearly 3,500.
“Coach (Dave) Nakama does a great job all week long in the preparation. Great scouting report,” coach Rich Hill said during the series. “The X factor … Les Murakami Stadium, baby. The Hawaii fans. When people come in here, it is a trouble thing for them. Bad news.”
Another feel-good moment was Tai Atkins’ pitching performance to close the game. Atkins, who struggled mightily early on in the season, held the line for the final 1 2/3 innings with three strikeouts, one hit and no walks to get the win in a wild game that saw relievers get roughed up on both sides.
Sean Rimmer made the most of a rare start in right field with a 4-for-5 game with four RBIs. Ben Zeigler-Namoa was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. Two seniors playing their final game, Matt Wong and Jacob Igawa, made a mark on their way out with multi-hit games.
UH led 9-2 in the fourth, only to see UCSB tie it up with a four-run fifth and three-run eighth.
Jordan Donahue led off the bottom of the ninth with a six-pitch walk. Dallas Duarte sacrifice bunted him over to second.
Miyao, the wiry junior from Hilo, faced an 0-1 count on his winning blast, a no-doubter to right-center. He raced around the bags with mouth agape and arms raised and into a home plate congregation. The ‘Bows doused him, piled on him and tore off his shirt. He finished 3-for-4 with two walks and three runs scored.
UH led 9-2 in the fourth, only to see UCSB tie it up with a four-run fifth and three-run eighth.
Jordan Donahue led off the bottom of the ninth with a six-pitch walk. Dallas Duarte sacrifice bunted him over to second.
Miyao, the wiry junior from Hilo, faced an 0-1 count on his winning blast, a no-doubter to right-center. He raced around the bags with mouth agape and arms raised and into a home plate congregation. The ‘Bows doused him, piled on him and tore off his shirt. He finished 3-for-4 with two walks and three runs scored.
UH is 37-23 in the Big West through two years of the Hill era. Prior to those, it did not have a winning campaign in the conference.
Of what he felt he’d accomplished so far, Hill told Spectrum News this weekend, “I really feel great. There’s a great sense of accomplishment. In our two years, probably more important than wins and losses, (we’ve) made an impact in the community. We’ve been able to make an impact with the keiki throughout Little Leagues. Really establishing our camps. We can spread our brand of baseball to the islands, and not just Oahu but the Neighbor Islands as well.
“The wins and losses come and go, but I’m most proud of the relationships I’ve been able to kind of garner with the players, the staff and the fans of Hawaii.”
Closing in on midnight, UH traditionally honored seniors Igawa, Cameron Hagan, Zach Losey and Dalton Renne. (Wong was honored on senior night 2022, then returned for one more year.)
“It’s bittersweet. This place means so much to me. It means everything to me, all these people,” said Wong, a Saint Louis alumnus who transferred into the program from the College of Southern Nevada and spent four total years in Manoa.
UH, playing the role of ultimate spoiler over the weekend, severely impaired the ability of UCSB (35-20, 18-12) to gain an at-large NCAA berth with the sweep. By comparison, UC Irvine (38-17, 19-11), another candidate for an at-large, closed the Big West in strong fashion with six straight wins.
The Big West will find out during the NCAA selection show Monday if it will gain an at-large team to join auto berth recipient Cal State Fullerton the 64-team field. Earlier Saturday, UC San Diego earned the outright Big West title with a 21-9 record, but since UCSD is a transitional Division I team, it couldn’t receive an NCAA berth by rule. Runner-up Fullerton, at 20-10, received the auto berth.
Hill, when he got the UH job coming in as a longtime leader at the University of San Diego, said that a Big West title is the goal of the ‘Bows. So far, UH — using a recipe of position players almost entirely from the islands and a pitching staff almost entirely from the mainland — has been close enough to entertain thoughts of a championship, but not realize one. The ‘Bows finished with an RPI of 72, up six spots from the start of the week.
As good as UH was at the Les down the stretch in 2023, it was the road that precluded the ‘Bows from the league title over the same span as they went 3-6 at UC Riverside, UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge.
UH used just a five-man pitching rotation, with two regular starters, Harry Gustin and Randy Abshier, and relievers Alex Giroux, Harrison Bodendorf and Connor Harrison. Beyond them, no ‘Bows pitcher had an earned-run average of below six in their limited appearances. UH likely will have to shore that up for future title contention.
Harrison, despite his 1-5 record, was the team’s ERA leader at 2.70. Abshier was UH’s wins leader at 6-3, while Gustin topped the staff in strikeouts at 79 and innings at 77 1/3. Giroux had the best WHIP at 1.08.
Wong led UH at the plate with a .330 average; Igawa (.324), Zeigler-Namoa (.301) joined him in the .300 club with Jared Quandt (.299), Miyao (.297) and Kyson Donahue (.294) right outside among the regulars.
Quandt (.430) led in on-base percentage with Zeigler-Namoa (.419) with Wong (.404), Miyao (.404) and Duarte (.400) in the upper tier.
Wong, with his two homers in the UCSB series opener Thursday, reached 10 on the season to become UH’s first player with double-digit jacks since Jeff Van Doornum in 2010. Donahue added seven.
Igawa led UH in hits with 66. Duarte, the catcher, drew more walks, 21, than strikeouts, 17, as did Zeigler-Namoa (30 to 28).
The positional versatility of Zeigler-Namoa and Kyson Donahue allowed Hill to mix and match lineups all season. Start to finish, those two combined to play nearly every position.
UH relied on stolen bases far less in 2023 than it did in Hill’s first season, with 25 in 44 attempts compared to 56 in 84 attempts in 2022. UH’s team batting average climbed to .278 this season from .269 a year ago.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.