HONOLULU – Cooper Walls and Isaiah Magdaleno combined on a four-hit shutout to lead the Hawai’i baseball team to a series-clinching 1-0 victory over No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.
Walls got his third start of the season and kept the Gaucho hitters off balance over seven innings of four-hit ball with three strikeouts. The freshman did not allow a runner to advance past second base and set down eight in a row at one point from the fifth through seventh innings.
Magdaleno entered with a runner on in the eighth inning and wiggled out of trouble, stranding two runners on with a strikeout to end the frame. The sophomore then retired the Gauchos in order in the ninth to lock down the save for the second consecutive day, throwing two hitless innings with a strikeout.
The victory earned Hawai’i its first series win over a ranked opponent since 2010 against Oregon. UH improved to 27-4 over its last 31 home games dating back to April 2 of last season while marking the eighth consecutive home series win for the Rainbow Warriors.
The Rainbow Warriors (14-5, 3-3 Big West) got on the board in the third inning, scratching across a run to go up 1-0. After a pair of singles, Jared Quandt came up with two outs and lined an 0-2 pitch through the right side to score David Vergel de Dios, who reached with his first career base hit.
Hawai’i pitchers finished the weekend with a 2.33 ERA, holding the Gauchos to a .186 batting average and just nine runs in the series. The pitching staff combined to strike out 25 batters while walking just five, holding one of the conference’s top home-run hitting teams without a long ball all weekend.
The Rainbow Warriors continue their homestand when they host UC Davis for a three-game series starting Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.
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