Hawai’i fends off Chaminade in midweek non-conference tilt, 2-0

BY MICHAEL LASQUERO | HSRN
PUBLISHED APRIL 17, 2024

HONOLULU — Win No. 20 of the year for the Hawai’i baseball team would come in a 2-0 outing against Chaminade in a non-conference matchup Tuesday night at the Les Murakami Stadium.

Ten different pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout for the Rainbow Warriors (20-14) with Brayden Marx earning his first win of the season and Danny Veloz nothing his first save of the year after picking up the final two outs.

The Silverswords’ pitching was also superb as starter Mac Elske retired the entire Hawai’i lineup one time through before giving way to Max Patterson (4-5). Sebastian Castro was also solid as well in 2 and 1/3 innings pitched, facing the minimum seven batters.

Hawai’i would finally break through in the fourth inning when Jake Tsukada and Austin Machado notched back-to-back hits before Kyson Donahue’s two-strike sac fly brought Tsukada home. 

The final run of the game came in the fifth when Elijah Ickes’ had a two-out knock to drive in Ben Ziegler-Namoa, who reached on a walk to leadoff the half-inning.

Jordan Donahue recorded the last hit of the game in the bottom of the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 17 games for the Rainbow Warriors.

Hawai’i coach Rich Hill had nothing but positive things to say about Chaminade (15-29) and head coach Chad Konishi in the program’s first season in over four decades.

“It was great, you have to give credit to Chad Konishi and his staff for really pitching well tonight,” said Hill. “They’re a very well-coached team. Our guys, proud of them, they grinded it out.”

Konishi, who served as an associate head coach for the Rainbow Warriors from 2002 to 2013, was grateful for the experience despite the loss.

“Really nice to be back in the first base dugout, when we were here (the home team) were in the first base dugout, but it’s awesome,” said Konishi.

“I really want to thank coach Hill. I thanked him many times for giving us this opportunity; one, to play them and two, obviously to rent the facility when they’re away on the road. It’s been so helpful for my program, especially for a first year program. We get a chance to play in the best facility in the state so we hope to continue to do that.”

In addition to their strong pitching, the Silverswords had their chances against the Rainbow Warriors. Their best chance at scoring came in the top of the third after Hawai’i intentionally walked Casey Kudell to load the bases as Kudell got the first hit of the game for Chaminade in the first inning. Ultimately, Hawai’i was able to get out of the jam with an inning-ending strikeout from Itsuki Takemoto.

“They did a nice job competing,” said Konishi. “I told my guys, ‘look we had our chances tonight. You guys played well, I’m really proud of the effort, but we had our chances and this is a D1 team that’s in a good conference.’ If we can play like this consistently, I think we would have had a more consistent record, but really proud of just putting a product on the field. Hopefully we can move on in year two and get better and then progress in year three.”