Baseball Downed By Hawaii, 9-7

BOX SCORE

HONOLULU – Despite building a 6-0 lead in the first inning, the University at Albany baseball team suffered a 9-7 loss to the University of Hawaii Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium after a furious comeback by the Rainbow Warriors.

The Great Danes batted through the order to start the game, using four hits and three errors to their advantage to score six runs.

However, Hawaii steadily chipped away at the deficit, plating one in both the first and second frames, and three more in the fourth.

Playing small-ball, UAlbany added a run to their total in the sixth for a 7-5 advantage. Charlie Peltz was hit by a pitch, moved to second on Cory Kingston’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Matt Hinchy’s single up the middle.

However, the ‘Bows answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, taking the lead for good. Kalei Hanawahine scored the tying run off Jordan Richartz’s ground out, and Kaeo Aliviado gave Hawaii the lead, crossing the plate on a wild pitch from UAlbany reliever Ryan Stinar (0-1).

The Rainbow Warriors then tacked on one last run in the bottom of the eighth inning, making the score 9-7.

Stinar took the loss for UAlbany out of the pen, allowing a hit, three runs and three walks in two-thirds of the sixth inning. Starter Matt Gallup tossed 3.2 frames, allowing five runs and nine hits, while striking out two. Relievers Andrew Veiga, Joe Romero, and Sam DeCelle also shared time on the hill.

Offensively, Hinchy and D.J. Hogaboon led the Danes as each totaled two hits, an RBI, and a run scored.

UAlbany (0-3) and Hawaii’s (3-4) series concludes Sunday at 1:05 p.m. HST (6:05 p.m. EST).