Hawaii pitchers combine on a three-hit shutout to snag 5-0 win over Oregon State

Spurred by a detailed plan, a relaxed approach and the promise of smoothies, three Hawaii pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout in the Hawaii baseball team’s 5-0 victory over Oregon State on Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 2,733 witnessed Cooper Walls, Liam O’Brien and Isaiah Magdaleno mesmerize the seventh-ranked Beavers and help the Rainbow Warriors rebound after losing the first two of this four-game series. The 23-pitcher staff also gets to redeem broadcaster Scott Robbs’ promise of providing smoothies for every shutout.

“Friday night’s game was a wake-up call,” UH pitching coach Keith Zuniga said of the 11-4 setback. After Saturday’s 3-2 loss, Zuniga told his staff, “the blueprint is there. All we asked them was to come out with the right mentality, and just execute the pitches, and get ahead and win counts and put them away when you need to.”

Konnor Palmeira smacked a solo home run, his first of the season, and Matthew Miura hit a two-run double in the fourth inning. But it was dominant pitching that helped the ’Bows improve to 29-16. The Beavers fell to 34-12. First pitch for today’s series finale is 6:35 p.m.

Boosted by this week’s schedule of strength and conditioning training, as well as two pre-game meals, Walls “was at ease,” according to pitching coach Keith Zuniga. “He had his normal weekly routine, and he was ready to go.”

Walls was able to find the strike zone with a curveball. “Most importantly, he was stealing strikes on the outer half of the plate, and he was able to get to two strikes,” Zuniga said. “He has such a wipe-out slider that when he gets to two strikes, he was able to put people away with weak contact.”

Walls allowed two hits and two walks while striking out five in five innings. After going through OSU’s lineup twice, he gave way to O’Brien.

In a road loss to Cal Poly three weeks ago, O’Brien walked the four batters he faced in the first inning. He then was pulled from the starting rotation. But O’Brien pitched two scoreless innings in mid-week game against Chaminade, and then did not allow a run in 42⁄3 innings against Cal State Bakersfield a week ago.

“He’s gotten over the hump,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “He’s an electric-armed kid. When he’s full of confidence, he’s basically un-hittable.”

On Sunday, O’Brien mixed a 95-mph fastball with a mid-80s curveball. “When his curveball is on and he’s throwing that over the plate, he’s extremely tough,” Zuniga said.

O’Brien said the pitchers were “locked in. We tried to get ahead of them with our pitching and let the offense do the rest.”

Despite relinquishing a one-out double and walk, Magdaleno induced a flyout and groundout to end the game.

“This team all year has been very resilient after a heart-breaking type of loss, and they’ve been steady Eddie after walk-off wins,” Hill said. “We come out with the same energy every day. Thse guys are great at being wide open and enjoying the game of baseball like they’re 10 years old and playing on the roof of Target.”

That was apparent with Palmeira, who is part of the three-catcher rotation. Palmeira did not play in the first two games of the series but started on Sunday. Hill usually pinch hits for the starting catcher early in the game. But Palmeira was allowed to bat with one out in the third and UH ahead 1-0.

Palmeira pulled a pitch over the fence in left for a 2-0 lead.

“I believe in myself and I trust the process … and I tried to make the most of my opportunity,” Palmeira said. Of watching the ball go over the fence, he said, “I took my time (circling the bases). … That was unreal.”

Hill said: “He’s such a great kid and works so hard. When he did that in front of the home fans, that’s something he’ll remember forever. He’s got tremendous power. I think he’s a later bloomer. He’s going to have a great next month.”

HAWAII 5, NO. 7 OREGON STATE 0

BEAVERS AB R H BI BB SO LOB

Arquette ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 0

Turley dh 3 0 0 0 1 1 0

Weber c 3 0 0 0 1 1 0

Singer 2b 3 0 1 0 1 1 0

Krieg 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 2

Reeder cf 2 0 1 0 0 1 0

Jones ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

McEntire cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Macias lf f 3 0 0 0 1 0 3

Caraway 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 0

Talt rf 2 0 0 0 1 1 2

Totals 28 0 3 0 6 8 7

RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO LOB

Miura cf 3 1 2 2 1 0 0

Sakaino 2b 2 1 2 0 1 0 0

Zeiglr-Namoa 1b 2 0 0 1 1 0 2

Quandt rf 4 0 1 1 0 1 2

Nahaku lf 3 0 2 0 0 0 0

Lancaster dh 1 1 0 0 1 1 0

Salmon ph/dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kinzie 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 2

Donahue ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 0

Palmeira c 1 1 1 1 0 0 0

Takemoto ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Faildo c 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 28 5 9 5 4 3 6

Oregon State 000 000 000 — 0 3 0

Hawaii 101 210 00x — 5 9 0

Records: Oregon State (34-12);

Hawaii (29-16)

DP—Oregon State 1, Hawaii 2. LOB—Oregon State 7, Hawaii 6.

2B—Winger, Reeder, Miura. HR—Palmeria.

SF—Zeigler. SB—Nahaku. CS—Nahaku.

BEAVERS IP H R ER BB SO

Kleinschmit (L 6-3) 3 3 4 4 3 2

DeCremer 2 4 1 1 0 1

Palmer 3 2 0 0 1 0

HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO

Walls (W 3-3) 5 2 0 0 2 5

O’Brien 3 0 0 0 3 2

Magdaleno 1 1 0 0 1 1

HBA—by Kleinschmt (Nahaku); by DeCremer (Salmon). BK—O’Brien.

Umpires—HP: Eduardo Ruiz. 1B: Matt McMahon. 3B: Michael Chukerman. T—2:35.

A—2,733 (turnstile).