Box Score
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow baseball team (7-7) fell to the Southern California Trojans (7-8) 3-1 in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,598 at Les Murakami Stadium Saturday. Sam Spangler (1-3) pitched great in a loss, striking out a career-high 11 batters while allowing just two earned runs 6.2 innings. Ben Mount got the complete-game victory for USC, striking out eight.
The Trojans got started early, scoring a run in the top of the first inning. Mount kept UH at bay for a while, retiring the first 10 Rainbows and keeping Hawai'i off the scoreboard for the first four innings.
UH got it going in the fifth as Freitas and Bennett led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Freitas then scored as Hawai'i grounded into a double play, tying it up at 1-1.
That was how it stayed until the seventh. USC came up with two runs, one of which was unearned, in the top of the seventh to get it to 3-1.
The Rainbows looked to rally in the bottom of the ninth as Kitamura led off with a single. But Mount was able to retire the final three Hawai'i players, preserving his complete-game victory.
The series continues tomorrow with a 1:05 p.m. game before the finale on Monday, March 15, at 6:35 p.m.
-UH-
