BOISE, Idaho — Seattle U baseball was firing on all cylinders Friday in its series, as the offense flexed its muscles with a season-high 16 hits, while the defense held Boise State to just six, en route to an 11-5 victory.
Junior Connor O'Brien led the way with a career-best 5-for-5 at the plate, falling a home run shy of the cycle, while accounting for four-Redhawk runs, scoring twice and driving in two more. As a result of his prowess, O'Brien became just the second player since the program's rebirth to register a five-hit single-game performance, matching Sean Sutton's March 10, 2018 outing vs the University of Albany.
Julian Kodama followed with a 3-for-5 day and three runs scored, while Justin Mazzone hit 2-for-5 and finished with three RBI. Nolan Jekich went 2-for-3, while Drake Maningo was 2-for-4 at the plate.
Jarrod Billig recorded another solid outing, allowing just two runs, one earned, in a season-best seven innings. The junior lefty scattered four hits on the day and struck out six, en route to earning the win and improving to 2-2 on the year. Max Cuenca and Marvcus Guarin each made one-inning relief appearances.
The Redhawk starter was again on-point early retiring eight on the first nine batters faced. Billig had three perfect innings on the day, leaving the Broncos empty-handed in the second, third and sixth innings.
Seattle U opened the scoring with runs by Kodama and O'Brien early in the first and never looked back. Trevor Antonson (1-4) extended the advantage to 3-0 with a RBI-double in the fourth that scored Maningo.
In the fifth, the Seattle U offense surged, scoring four runs on five hits as it took a 7-1 lead. Kodama and O'Brien opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, with Kodama tallying a run in the process. A Mazzone RBI-single then brought O'Brien in, pushing the score to 5-1. Mazzone then moved to third on a Jekich single to right, before finishing his trip around thanks in part to a Broncos' error. Two batters later, Jekich also capitalized on another Boise State miscue for a score.
Seattle U then plated two runs each during the seventh and eighth to widen the chasm. Boise State attempted a late rally down the stretch, scoring once in seventh and ninth with two in the eighth, but the effort was not enough.
The Redhawks continue the series tomorrow with a doubleheader. First-pitch of the opening game is slated for 1:05 pm Pacific.