Elijah Ickes sprinted home on a wild pitch in the ninth inning to deliver the Hawaii baseball team a 4-3 victory over Gonzaga today at Les Murakami Stadium.
Down 3-2 in the ninth, Tate Shimao hit a one-out single to right field. Ickes followed with single to left.
The Bulldogs brought in Frank Willius, a 6-foot-4 left-hander, to face left-swinging Ben Zeigler-Namoa.
“We were expecting him the whole weekend,” Zeigler-Namoa said. “I saw (videos of Willius) multiple times. I was ready to hit. I was ready to hit the whole weekend. I got my pitch, and hit it up the middle.”
Zeigler-Namoa’s grounder eluded the reach of second baseman Hudson Shupe as Shimao raced home with the tying run and Ickes dived safely into third base.
Willius’ first pitch to Jake Redding bounced past catcher Luca DiPaolo and Ickes scored the winning run.
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“Coach (Rich Hill) told me to look for the passed ball,” Ickes said, “and it was the first pitch, and the rest is history.”
UH won three of four to claim the season-opening series.