Rainbow baseball team shuts down the Matadors again

On another magical night in Manoa, the Hawaii baseball team mystified Cal State Northridge 7-0 at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 2,094 watched Hekili Robello pitch five scoreless innings to improve to 9-4, and shortstop Elijah Ickes make a triumphant return to the Rainbow Warriors’ lineup.

A night after Isaiah Magdaleno’s one-hit, 14-strikeout shutout, Robello followed with a four-hitter over five innings before being pulled with a 4-0 lead. John Alkire II surrendered one hit in three innings. Tsubasa Tomii pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

Ickes had missed 20 games after suffering a hairline fracture in his left wrist. He was added to the 30-player active roster this week. After receiving full medical clearance on Thursday, he was inserted into the night’s batting order. Ickes had an RBI triple, run-scoring single and double in his first three plate appearances. He finished 3-for-4. Those three hits were placed into right-center.

“Back to that same approach,” the right-handed Ickes said of his opposite-field attack. Hitting to the “back side of the field, good things happen.”

Ickes added: “It was pretty awesome to be back on the field and play baseball again. Super grateful for this team. It feels everyone is behind me., and I can play the game I want to play.”

UH first baseman Josh Martin went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Martin is hitting 8-for-16 in the past seven games.

“It was awesome, first bomb at the Les,” Martin said of his solo shot in the second inning. “I was seeing the ball well. I’ve been seeing it for the past couple days. Staying on the heater, that’s all.”

Martin also provided steady defense.

“I try to take pride in my defense,” said Martin, a transfer from Santa Rosa Junior College. “Having good connections with the guys so they can make good throws.”

On Wednesday, the ’Bows clinched a berth in next week’s five-team Big West Tournament in Irvine, Calif. On Thursday, UC San Diego secured the No. 3 seed with a victory over Cal State Fullerton. The ’Bows, who improved to 16-13 in league play, are assured the fourth seed and will be designated as the home team in next Wednesday’s play-in game.

It’s has been a disappointing trip for CSUN, which needed to sweep this three-game series to keep alive any prayers to play beyond today’s end of the regular season. Instead, the Matadors dropped their eighth in a row. Entering with a starting lineup batting .301 with 36 home runs, the Matadors were held to seven hits and stretched their scoreless streak to 21 innings.

In recent weeks, the Matadors used an “opener” — a relief pitcher as a short-inning starter — with tepid results. On Wednesday, it was Charles Rogers assigned the start. Rogers pitched a scoreless first inning, issuing only a walk. But in the second, Martin pulled a 2-1 pitch from Rogers over the fence in center field. It was Martin’s second homer of the season.