Honolulu, Hawaii – Nathan Bannister picked up his ninth win of the season, pitching seven dominant innings, lifting the Arizona Wildcats to a 6-1 win over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Cats improved to 37-20 on the season and have won five in a row.
The Rainbow Warriors struck first Saturday, plating a run in the bottom of the second off Bannister. Eric Ramirez doubled to left to start the inning and moved to second on a groundout. With one out, Ethan Lopez lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Ramirez and give Hawaii the early lead.
That's the only run the Rainbow Warriors would get and the only lead they'd possess.
Arizona responded in the fourth with a run of its own to tie the game. Ryan Aguilar started the inning by reaching first on a hit by pitch. After a strikeout, JJ Matijevic singled to move Aguilar to second. Kyle Lewis then came up and appeared to pop out. But Hawaii catcher Kekai Rios was called for catcher's inference, which loaded the bases with one out for Jared Oliva. Oliva hit a deep fly ball to foul territory in right field that scored Aguilar from third to tie the game at one apiece.
The Cats gave Bannister some breathing room in the sixth, when they plated three runs to extend their lead to 4-1. Aguilar once again started things off, doubling down the left field line for his 18th two-bagger this season. Bobby Dalbec lined a single to left to move Aguilar to third to put runners on the corners with no outs for Matijevic.
Matijevic came through with a sacrifice fly to right to score Aguilar and make it 2-1. Kyle Lewis, who started in left field, singled up the middle to move Dalbec up a base and knock Hawaii starter Alex Hatch out of the game. Reliever Cody Culp came on and got Jared Oliva to pop out on his first pitch. But the next batter, Cesar Salazar, got to Culp and lined a double to right-center to score Dalbec and Lewis and make it 4-1.
It was Salazar's fourth double of the season and his 24th and 25th RBI of his freshman season.
An inning later, Arizona tacked on another run. Aguilar reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a throwing error by shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collings. With two outs, Dalbec dumped a single into center to score Aguilar and make it 5-1.
Bannister, who improved to 9-2 in his senior season, exited in the bottom of the eighth after Josh Rojas singled to lead off the inning. The senior right-hander allowed just five hits, one run and one walk, while striking out three in an economical 85 pitches. Bannister is now 6-1 in his last eight starts with one no-decision.
Dalbec took over for Bannister on the mound, and despite a pair of walks, wiggled out of the inning when he got catcher Kekai Rios to fly out to shallow right where Gibbons made a sliding grab.
Gibbons, who produced five hits in Friday, went 3 for 5 Saturday. He collected career hit No. 266 to move into seventh place all-time at Arizona in career hits. He needs three more to tie Les Pearsey for sixth.
Dalbec and Ramer each had two hits in the win. Dalbec also tossed two shutout innings on top of going 2 for 4. The junior is now 8-12 over his last three games.
The Cats will go for the series sweep of the Rainbow Warriors on Sunday. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m., MST. Arizona has yet to announce a starting pitcher.
