Strong pitching from Magdaleno lifts Hawaii past UC Davis 4-1

Another start, another magnificent pitching performance from Hawaii right-hander Isaiah Magdaleno.

A week after a one-hit, 16-strikeout shutout, Magdaleno allowed a run in eight innings in the Rainbow Warriors’s 4-1 baseball victory over UC Davis at Dobbins Stadium on the UCD campus.

Magdaleno walked one and struck out nine to improve to 6-4 and lower his ERA to 1.70 in nine Big West starts. The junior from Los Angeles threw strikes on 70 of 100 pitches.

“Guts of a burglar, business as usual,” UH coach Rich Hill said of Magdaleno. “Very stoic. Great to see.”

Magdaleno was cruising until he hit Ryan Lee and relinquished an infield single to Braydon Wooldridge to open the UCD eighth. Joey Wright pulled foul a long drive before striking out. Zach Story also struck out. Then Tyler Howard hit a hard grounder that short-hopped shortstop Taylor Takata and bounced into center field. Lee sprinted home for the first run off Magdaleno in 17 innings.

Hill then visited Magdaleno.

“I told him it was his game,” Hill recalled. “I told him: ‘I’m not coming to get you. You’re touching 91 (mph). Your stuff is great. They can’t hit you. It’s just a bad-hop single. Nothing you can do. And you’re OK.”

Magdaleno induced Kai Mault to pop up to third baseman Tate Shimao to end the eighth.

But at the start of the ninth, Hill summoned relief pitcher Tsubasa Tomii.

“It’s that third or fourth time around the lineup,” Hill said of replacing Magdaleno. ” I always want to pull a pitcher too early rather than too late. I debated in my mind I could live with bringing in a fresh arm in the ninth. I couldn’t live with Isaiah hitting a guy or walking a guy in the ninth and then bringing a (reliever) in. That was the decision. Tomii was the best option and the best matchup.”

After Tomii fielded a grounder back to the mound, the next two Aggies hit long drives that right fielder Gabe Wright chased down. Wright had entered as defensive replacement in the sixth inning. Tomii earned his first UH save.

“Gabe Wright made a couple really good plays like it was nothing,” Hill said.

The ’Bows took a 2-0 lead when Mana Lau Kong and Draven Nushida hit back-to-back, run-scoring singles in the first inning off Grayson Bonanno. Noel Valdez, who was scheduled to start, was a late scratch.

Lau Kong’s hit had an exit speed of 112 mph. He later hit a drive that clocked at 114 mph off his bat. Nushida, who was injured in the April 29 game against Hawaii Hilo, went 3-for-5.

In the fourth, Jake Redding smacked a drive over the fence in left field. His first homer of the season was witnessed by several friends and family members. Redding grew up in Lincoln, Calif., a 44-mile drive from Davis.

In the seventh, the ’Bows filled the bases with two outs. Lau Kong drew a five-pitch walk to bring home Redding with the fourth run.