Three outs wasn’t enough for the University of Hawaii to escape the ninth inning Friday night.
Oregon scratched for the go-ahead run, taking advantage of a wild pitch on a swinging third strike, to beat the Rainbow Warriors 3-2 on opening night at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
The top of the ninth started innocently enough when reliever Eric Gleese retired the first two batters on popups. But Gleese (0-1) walked the next two hitters and was relieved by Jordan DePonte. One an 0-2 pitch, DePonte struck out Scott Heineman, but the ball got past catcher Alan Baldwin, allowing Nick Catalano to score all the way from second.
UH needed only one hit to score twice in the fifth to tie the game at 2. Kaeo Aliviado finished 2 for 5 and was the only player in the game with multiple hits.
Hawaii starter Tommy Thorpe was victimized by two errors during the Ducks’ two-run fourth inning. He pitched well, allowing three hits and two runs — both unearned — with four walks and two strikeouts in six innings.
Garrett Cleavinger (1-0) struck out the side for Oregon in the eighth inning, and Jake Reed worked around Aliviado’s two-out single in the ninth to earn the save.
Softball
Lindsey Willmon homered and doubled, and Sarina Jaramillo finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs as Hawaii outslugged Seattle 9-8 at the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas.
The teams combined for 28 hits. The Rainbow Wahine (5-3) collected 15, getting a 3-for-4 performance from Alyssa Villalpando, who doubled and added an RBI single. Kristina Akiona tripled and scored in the second and plated a run with a single in the fourth as UH scored three times to take the lead for good.
Seattle (1-8) hit starting pitcher Heather Morales hard, but Loie Kesteron (1-2) pitched 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief to get the victory.
Earlier in the day, Florida hit four home runs off Kesteron for an 11-1 TKO victory in five innings.
Leisha Liilii homered for the Wahine.
Volleyball
Brook Sedore posted 17 kills to lead the No. 11 Rainbow Warriors to a 25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory and a two-match sweep against Cal Baptist at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
Sinisa Zarkovic added 11 kills and Nick West was efficient with 10 kills on only 16 swings as UH (9-4, 7-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) hit .322.
Jackson Burge led the Lancers (3-9. 2-8) with 14 kills.
Cal Baptist threatened to force a decisive set when it tied Game 4 at 22-22, but Jace Olsen answered with kill and two Lancers’ attack errors ended the match.