HONOLULU – Josh Slaats pitched a gem in the second game as the University of Hawai'i Rainbow baseball team (5-6) split a doubleheader with The Citadel Bulldogs (7-2) 5-9 and 9-0 in front of a crowd of 2,602 at Les Murakami Stadium Friday.

 

In the second game, Slaats (1-0) took a no-hitter 5.2 innings before finishing with a complete-game shutout with seven strikeouts, two hits and one walk, leading UH to a 9-0 win. Matt Talley (1-1) took the loss for the Bulldogs.

 

And while Slaats was keeping the Bulldogs at bay, the Rainbow bats awoke with three homers in the game. Kevin Macdonald went 1-for-2 in the game with two RBI, three runs and a homer, his second of the day. Pi'ikea Kitamura also homered, going 1-for-2 with two RBI while Greg Garcia was 1-for-3 with an inside-the-park home run, two RBI and two runs.

 

Kolten Wong started the scoring in the first, stealing second before coming around on an error. Kevin Fujii drove in another run in the second, with Garcia scoring in the third, pushing the 'Bows ahead 3-0.

 

The big fireworks then came in the fourth inning. After Macdonald drew a walk, Kitamura hit his first career homer to right field, making it 5-0. With Breland Almadova on second, Garcia then hit a bomb to right that ricocheted hard off the wall while Citadel rightfielder Matt Simonelli crashed into the wall, trying to make the catch. Garcia hustled around the whole way, beating the throw to the plate in to complete the inside-the-park homer and extend UH's lead to 7-0.

 

Macdonald then added his homer in the fifth, a two-run shot, giving Hawai'i the 9-0 victory.

 

UH fell to The Citdael 9-5 in the first game. Matt Sisto (1-2) took the loss for UH while Asher Wojciechowski (3-0) got the win for the Bulldogs. Matt Reifsnider came in late to get the save.

 

Macdonald led the way, going 2-for-5 with a home run. David Freitas added a 2-for-4 game with a run while Kitamura chipped in a triple and a run. Collin Bennett added a 1-for-3 game with one RBI.

 

The Citadel again got the scoring started early as two doubles led to a first-inning run. But Hawai'i answered in the bottom half of the inning as Bennett hit a RBI-single, tying the score at one apiece.

 

The Bulldogs came up big in the second inning, putting up three runs, including a two-run homer by Nick Orvin, getting it to 4-1. The Rainbows answered as Macdonald led off the bottom of the second with a solo homer of his own. UH then added two more runs in the inning, tying it again at 4-4.

 

Kyle Jordan blasted a solo homer to put The Citadel ahead again at 5-4. UH answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth to tie it at 5-5. But the Bulldogs then put it away, scoring a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh, taking it 9-5.

 

The two teams complete the series tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.

 

-UH-