Steve Raburn Jr. fired a three-hit shutout to lift the Hawaii Stars to a 2-0 win over Maui Na Koa Ikaika on Friday night.
Steve Raburn Jr. fired a three-hit shutout to lift the Hawaii Stars to a 2-0 win over Maui Na Koa Ikaika on Friday night.
The North American Baseball League game was played at Iron Maehara Stadium on Maui. The teams play Game 5 of a six-game series at 5:35 p.m. today. The Stars (25-27) then close their season with a final game against Maui (31-27) at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.
Raburn (5-2) went the nine-inning distance to earn the win. He struck out five and walked one.
Eri Yoshida started for Na Koa Ikaika and pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings. She allowed two hits and a run while taking the loss. Josh Larson took over in the third and held the Stars to two hits over the final five innings. But the visitors plated an insurance run in the eighth on their way to the tough road win.
Larson struck out four and walked one in a solid effort.
Hawaii got on the board in the first inning off Yoshida. Dion Pouncil walked and advanced to second base when Keoni Managa was hit by a pitch. Pouncil later scored on an error by Maui’s catcher to make it 1-0.
The Stars struck again in the eighth when Matt Hibbert singled, moved to second on Managa’s groundout and scored on an error, stretching the lead to 2-0.
No one paired hits in the game as Hawaii outhit Maui 4-3. Hibbert, Arnoldo Ponce, Jason Thomas and Reggie York each had a hit for the Stars. Waylen Sing Chow, Alan Rick and Keith Kandell had a hit apiece for the hosts.
Stars 100 000 010 — 2 4 1
Maui 000 000 000 — 0 3 3