Hawai‘i hit three two-run home runs to back the superb pitching of Josh Slaats to knock off The Citadel, 9-0, in the seven-inning nightcap to salvage a doubleheader split before 1,397 at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Citadel won the first game, 9-5.
Slaats (1-0) had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings before No. 9 hitter William Ladd lined a single to center that center fielder Breland Almadova had to short hop. The next batter, Nick Orvin, also lined a single to center, but Slaats struck out Brad Felder to end the inning. Slaats hit a batter, but erased him on a caught stealing and walked a batter, who was erased on a double play before allowing the two singles. He struck out seven.
Matt Talley (1-1) was tagged for seven runs (three earned), four hits and four walks with three strikeouts in four innings for the Bulldogs (7-2), who had three-game win streak snapped.
The Rainbows got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. Kolten Wong walked with two outs. He broke for second and pitcher Talley’s throw to first was wild, allowing Wong to score on the error to give UH a 1-0 lead.
Hawai‘i increased its lead in the second when, with one out, Kevin Macdonald and Pi‘ikea Kitamura drew back-to-back walks and Kevin Fujii followed with an RBI single to center to make it 2-0.
The Rainbows scored again in the third. Greg Garcia reached safely on third baseman David Greene’s fielding error to start the inning. Garcia went to third on pitcher Talley’s pick-off throwing error. But Wong popped out to first before Collin Bennett’s ground out to second scored Garcia to make it 3-0.
Eight batters went to the plate in UH’s four-run fourth. Kitamura’s two-run home run made it 5-0. Then with one out, Breland Almadova reached on the pitcher’s fielding error on a bunt. After taking second on Kalani Brackenridge’s sacrifice, Garcia hit an inside-the-park home run to right to make it 7-0. On the play, right fielder Matt Simonelli crashed into the wall, as the ball caromed away toward the right field line, forcing the center fielder to retrieve the ball.
The Bulldogs changed pitchers to start the fifth, but the result was the same. Macdonald hit a two-run home run off reliever Jeffrey Spillane to make it 9-0.