Jordan Donahue ʻ20 flexes power in Hawaii baseball rout of Holy Cross in series opener
Brian McInnis Spectrum News Hawaii. Email brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
Jordan Donahue produced the right kind of highlight on Friday night.
The Hawaii baseball infielder went viral on social media for his unusual ejection for celebrating a clutch walk in the Rainbow Warriors’ season-opening loss against Ole Miss on Feb. 16. But in UH’s series-opening 12-1 win against Holy Cross, Donahue got post-game attention for a 3-for-4 outing that included the first home run of the junior’s college career.
Video of his ejection has continued to circulate on sports websites and has made for message board fodder about college baseball officiating.
“I saw it on ESPN the other night,” Donahue said. “I wish I was on it for a different reason, but that’s what happened.”
The Damien Memorial School graduate and Oregon State transfer doubled in the third, homered to the right in the sixth and singled in the seventh. He is batting .391 on the young season hitting primarily ninth in the lineup.
“I was just looking for something up and trying to drive it up the middle,” Donahue said of his homer off of Crusaders reliever Dan Mateffy. “Glad everything else happened.”
Coach Rich Hill said he was not surprised to witness it from the 5-foot-10 Mililani native.
“I mean, I’ve seen him do that,” Hill said. “He can put a charge into a baseball. You should see him in the weight room. He’s a strong kid. When he’s on time, he can do that in just about any ballpark.”
UH, coming off a 15-2 win at Hawaii Hilo on Wednesday, moved above .500 for the first time this season as the ‘Bows (5-4) compiled a season-high 14 hits while four pitchers combined on a four-hitter of the Crusaders (2-5) of Worcester, Mass.
Friday night starter Harrison Bodendorf went four scoreless innings with three hits and two walks allowed against four strikeouts. He was lifted after seeing two batters in the fifth.
Alex Giroux (1-0) threw two clean innings for his first win of the season. Tyler Dyball was likewise untouched for two more and freshman Brayden Marx was given the ninth. The Utah native walked three and struck out three in giving up Holy Cross’ only score of the night.
Holy Cross of the Patriot League is here for three more games for a series that concludes Monday. Randy Abshier (0-1) will get the start for Saturday’s 6:35 p.m. game.
“I think we’re set up for the next couple of days with our back-end bullpen guys,” Hill said. “Randy’s been really good. Isaiah Magdaleno has a chance to start. We can bring Giroux back on a Monday.
“We just want to put a full-game together, offensively and defensively.”
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.