Hawaii Finds No Rainbow at the End

Hello, goodbye. Hello, goodbye. Or, to the Hawaii baseball team, aloha, aloha. Aloha, aloha.

A new day brought decent enough weather to complete a suspended game and begin another at Matador Field. The first ended when designated hitter Casey Cheshier kissed one aloha in the bottom of the seventh and final inning to give Cal State Northridge a spirited come-from-behind 4-3 victory.

A downpour halted the second game in the top of the fifth inning with no score, and a frustrated Les Murakami, Hawaii’s coach, was left staring at his 10th loss in 10 tries at Northridge. When it rains, it pours.

Considering Murakami owns an impressive 943-449-16 lifetime record in 26 seasons, the Matadors’ dominance is as unlikely as their comeback Wednesday.

Hawaii (16-9, 3-3 in Western Athletic Conference play) had taken a 3-0 lead Tuesday in a game suspended in the fifth.

A day later, Northridge (22-5, 6-1) went to work, tying the score in the sixth on a two-run double by Grant Hohman and a run-scoring single by Kurt Airoso. Cheshier ended it by leading off the seventh with a towering home run to left field off Rainbow left-hander Paul Ah Yat.

“I got an inside fastball and turned on it,” Cheshier said. “The first pitch I swung from my shoes and missed it, then I just tried to make contact and it went out.”

Cheshier, a freshman from Highland High, has three home runs and is batting .302 from the No. 8 position in the order.

“Our left-handed hitters have been carrying us but today it was our right-handed guys,” Coach Mike Batesole said. “It’s important for them to come through.”

Cheshier, Hohman and Airoso all bat right-handed.

The winning pitcher was Robert Crabtree (8-1), who replaced Gary Stephenson with one out and none on in the top of the seventh. The senior right-hander retired the two batters he faced, then started the second game and pitched four shutout innings.

The second game was suspended with Crabtree in trouble, however. Kenn Wakakuwa led off the fifth with a triple and Greg Millichap walked before umpires halted play.

Meanwhile, Ah Yat settled down, retiring 12 consecutive batters in four innings. If he pitches when the game is resumed next month in Hawaii, he will be picking up on a perfect game.

The Matadors will travel to Hawaii April 11 and will play four full games in addition to completing the suspended game.

“This victory was huge for two reasons,” Batesole said. “First, we didn’t handle the weather conditions well [Tuesday] and we came back and did that today. Second, Hawaii is an excellent team and getting one victory here when we have to play five there was crucial.”