Hawaii baseball team goes 13 innings but loses opener to Ole Miss

Feb. 17—The Hawaii baseball team went deep into Friday only to fall short in the season opener.

The Hawaii baseball team went deep into Friday only to fall short in the season opener.

Ethan Lege's tie-breaking RBI single in the top of the 13th inning lifted Ole Miss to a 5-4 victory in a game that lasted 4 hours, 53 minutes. Many of the sellout crowd of 3, 667 had departed ahead of the final out at Les Murakami Stadium.

The teams combined for 16 hits, 19 walks and 30 strikeouts.

Jackson Ross led off the 13th with a ground single to center off Hunter Gotschall, the fifth of UH's six pitchers. After Andrew Fischer drew a walk, Lege singled to right for what proved to be the decisive run.

The'Bows missed a chance to end it in regulation.

Hawaii led 4-3 entering the ninth, but the Rebels evened the score.

After striking out Judd Utermark, UH left-hander Connor Harrison relinquished Jackson Ross' ground single up the middle. Harrison then walked and hit the next two batters to load the bases. Ethan Groff's sacrifice fly to center brought home Ross with the tying run.

Hawaii then missed a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. DallasJ Duarte was hit by a Mason Nichols pitch, then scooted to second on Stone Miyao's sacrifice. After Ben Zeigler-Namoa was intentionally walked, Matt Miura hit a line drive up the middle. Second baseman Brayden Randle made the grab, then stepped on second base to complete the inning-ending double play.

The'Bows had scored a run on a wild pitch to take a 4-3 lead in the eighth.

Zeigler-Namoa hit an opposite-field single to left to open the UH eighth. Miura placed a bunt in front of the plate, and beat catcher Campbell Smithwick's throw to first. Naighel Ali 'i Calderon advanced both runners with a sacrifice. On an 0-1 count to left-swinging Jared Quandt, Brayden Jones bounced a pitch that eluded Smithwick as Zeigler-Namoa raced home to break a 3-all tie.

The'Bows tied it with a three-run fourth.

Zeigler-Namoa and Miura each drew one-out walks. Then Austin Machado, a St. John's transfer, hit a towering drive to right that outfielder Treyson Hughes could not secure at the base of the fence. The ball dropped for a long single as Zeigler-Namoa sprinted home with the'Bows' first run. Through video reviews, home plate umpire Mike Fichter confirmed Zeigler-Namoa's right hand reached under Smithwick's attempted tag.

Sean Rimmer singled off pitcher JT Quinn, who threw wildly to first as Miura raced around to close the'Bows to 3-2. Mason Morris replaced Quinn, yielding Kyson Donahue's opposite-field RBI double to left.

The Rebels needed just six pitches in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Lege placed a blooper to right, then sprinted to second for first-pitch, leadoff double. Groff then pulled a 2-2 pitch from Harrison Bodendorf over the fence in left.

The Rebels added a run in the third inning. First baseman Utermark drew a one-out walk, went to second when Ross walked, then scored on Lege's grounder up the middle.

Nichols pitched 41 /3 scoreless innings to earn the victory. Nichols' previous longest outing was three innings.

Connor Spencer retired the side in order in the 13th, striking out two.

The teams meet today in a doubleheader. The first game, scheduled for seven innings, begins at 1 p.m.