Hawaii right-handed pitcher Liam O’Brien woke up to dream.
Notified on Sunday morning that he would be that day’s starting pitcher, O’Brien went out and threw 51⁄3 hitless innings to lead Hawaii to a 7-1 victory over Wichita State at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 1,392 saw O’Brien and Freddy Rodriguez combine on a one-hitter as the Rainbow Warriors won three times in this four-game series to improve to 7-1. The Shockers fell to 2-5.
Relying on a fastball that touched 96 mph and a mid-80s curveball, O’Brien struck out six, exiting with a runner on first with one out in the sixth. Freddy Rodriguez eventually gave up a sacrifice fly, but did not allow a run the rest of the way. ‘
“It’s pretty crazy right now,” said O’Brien, a transfer from Gonzaga who has not allowed a hit in 101⁄3 innings this season. “It’s great. I’m glad I came out of the gates swinging. It feels pretty good.”
O’Brien, who had been preparing to be the back-end reliever, was notified Sunday morning of his start.
“I got the call from my pitching coach (Keith Zuniga) this morning,” O’Brien said. “I had no idea, which was kind of good because I didn’t have time to think about it. I woke up, and it was like, ‘all right, I’m starting.’ I got a good night’s sleep.”
Zuniga said the coaches mapped out a plan to use several pitchers on Sunday.
“We just want to keep everybody ready,” Zuniga said. “We have our homework we do throughout the course of the night, and then have our staff meets in the morning. Everybody — it was unanimous — felt good about putting him back out there (after pitching two innings on Thursday). When you come in the first inning, it’s the same type of mentality, bullpen mentality. You put as many zeros on the board as you possibly can, and we’ll come get you when we need to. Obviously going into it, we didn’t know it would be five zeros. His pitch count was down, he was executing, he didn’t give up any hits, he was executing for us.
O’Brien has a three-pitch menu. “Just a fastball and curveball were all I needed,” O’Brien said. “It’s definitely a big-league curveball. It’s elite. I think it’s at 82 (mph), 85, 86 sometimes. It plays really well off my fastball.”
When the ’Bows. were at bat, O’Brien sat near the dugout’s water cooler, with teammates observing the unwritten rule of not discussing an on-going no-hitter. “My pitching coach was giving me some pointers, telling me to stay locked in the game,” O’Brien said.
During the summer, O’Brien was used mostly as a starting pitcher, leading the Northwoods League in innings pitched. At the end of fall training, O’Brien, like most of the pitchers, worked his way up to between 45 and 50 pitches during scrimmages and bullpen sessions.
“When guys report in the spring, we try to get their pitch counts up,” Zuniga said. “(O’Brien) was prepared for this. He was amped up. He’s a master in the weight room. He works hard in the weight room. He’s in good cardio shape. If you asked him, I’m sure he thought he could have gone two more (innings).”
Rodriguez was coming back after pitching three scoreless innings on Thursday. He worked out of a two-on jam in the sixth. With a runner on first and two outs in the eighth, Rodriguez fell behind 3-0 on the count to designated hitter Kam Durnin. But after a mound visit from head coach Rich Hill, Rodriguez threw three consecutive strikes to end the threat.
“I told Coach (Hill) I was good if he needed me, and today Coach Hill looked at me and said, ‘can you give me a couple?’” Rodriguez recalled. “I told him I’ve got as much as you need to finish this game. Whatever you want, I’ll go out there and finish it.”
Catcher Hunter Faildo said O’Brien and Rodriguez “made it easy on me. They were in the zone. It was fun.”
Shortstop Elijah Ickes and left fielder Draven Nushida, who entered as a pinch hitter, each drove in two runs for the ’Bows.
