HONOLULU — Rich Hill went all in on opening night, but Ole Miss was content to play the long game.
The Hawaii baseball coach threw his three most experienced pitchers at the Rebels as the Rainbow Warriors were on the verge of their first season-opening victory of the Hill era, only to see the SEC power scratch out the tying run in the ninth inning and prevail in the 13th, 5-4 in front of a sellout crowd at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday.
Opening night starter Harrison Bodendorf lasted four innings and UH’s top two options out of the bullpen, Alex Giroux and Connor Harrison got UH through nine. Some untested newcomers, Danny Veloz and Hunter Gotschall, were summoned in extras.
“We’re fine, everything’s good,” Hill, UH’s third-year coach, said of his pitching staff’s readiness for Saturday’s seven-inning/nine-inning doubleheader starting at 1:05 p.m. Senior left-hander Randy Abshier gets the ball on the front end.
[UPDATE: UH said Saturday that the second game of the doubleheader has also been adjusted to seven innings after Friday night's extra-innings contest went nearly five hours.]
“As you can see, we go for it,” Hill said. “We don’t save anything for the swim back. We’ll see how it pans out tomorrow.”
The crowd of 3,667 (4,633 tickets issued) was ready to celebrate as UH took a 4-3 lead heading into the ninth. But the 2022 College World Series champions loaded the bases on Harrison and Ethan Groff brought in the tying run on a sacrifice fly to center.
Ole Miss opened the 13th with a single and a walk on the freshman Gotschall, and Ethan Lege scored Jackson Ross with a poke to the right.
Mason Nichols picked up the win with 4 1/3 innings of hitless long relief and Connor Spencer mowed down the ‘Bows in order in the bottom of the 13th for the save.
Even after Ole Miss played spoiler in the ninth, UH had its chances. The ‘Bows had the winning run on second with one out in the bottom of the frame, but Matthew Miura lined into an unassisted double play at second. Newcomer DJ Akiyama, an Aiea High alumnus, nearly ended the game in the bottom of the 12th on a shot over the rightfield wall, but it was foul by about 10 feet.
“Definitely a little shocked,” said first baseman Ben Zeigler-Namoa, who singled, walked three times and scored twice. “I mean, both teams played hard tonight, and they got that one big hit. It hurts, man, it hurts. But we’re going to come back tomorrow and get after it, for sure.”
The ‘Bows battled back from a 3-0 deficit with a three-run fourth and went up on Zeigler-Namoa’s hustle home on a wild pitch in the eighth.
“Throughout the whole game, I think we just wanted it. I think you could tell after they scored three,” said Zeigler-Namoa, of Lahaina. “Teams that are scared of them wouldn’t have scored anything. We scored three right after they did that and as soon as we scored the fourth one, I was like, damn, this it right here.”
He said he would head straight home, shower and sleep for the quick turnaround Saturday.
Hill said he could “run another 100 miles” after the loss and that he was pleased with how the team stuck together in that kind of unscripted, intense situation. He said Giroux was “spectacular” and also lauded Bodendorf and the junior college transfer Veloz. Bodendorf, a sophomore who is filling the shoes of departed All-Big West first-teamer Harry Gustin, struck out three while giving up four hits, three walks and three earned runs.
UH dropped to 0-3 in season openers under Hill.
Freshman Elijah Ickes, a Kamehameha graduate and 2023 state champion, got the start at shortstop, though veteran Jordan Donahue took over after one at-bat by Ickes. Donahue was ejected by the home-plate umpire in the eighth for barking at the Rebels immediately after drawing a walk, and Aaron Ujimori took his place.
UH could throw its touted freshman from Japan, Itsuki Takemoto, at some point Saturday. Takemoto has had a film crew following him around for his journey in U.S. college baseball.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.