Hawaii’s Robello silences UC Santa Barbara for 3-1 win
With a menu of pitches that can appear to be faster than a speeding bullet with an impact as powerful as a locomotive, Hekili Robello led the Hawaii baseball team to Saturday’s 3-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium in Santa Barbara, Calif. Teammates “call him the ‘Hawaiian Superman,’” head coach Rich Hill said of Robello, who allowed three hits and struck out eight in 81⁄3 innings. “He battles.
He’s got the heart of a lion. He just competes. ” Robello, who was pulled after issuing a one-out walk in the ninth, fell short in pitching the second complete game in Hill’s 231 games as UH head coach.
“He was at (115) pitches,” Hill said in a postgame phone interview. “He was starting to push the ball a little bit. It was going to be that fourth or fifth time around (the lineup).
Hey, we had a fresh closer there, and decided to make a move at about 113 pitches rather than have him pitch in the stretch and have a longer inning. ” Rowan Kelly stole second and scored on Cole Kosciusko’s two-out single off John Alkire II to break the shutout. But Alkire got the final out for his fourth save and second in as many days.
The Rainbows Warriors clinched the three-game Big West series by winning the first two contests. First pitch is 10 a. m.