ByKathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Daren Masanda gets ready to put the tag on Miami's
Bobby Hill, who was trying to steal second.
The Miami of Florida Hurricanes were coming off a 50-victory season, 39 consecutive winning campaigns, a record 24 straight NCAA Regional bids and 15 College World Series appearances.
In the other dugout, the University of Hawaii baseball team barely has 50 wins in two seasons, hasn't been to a regional in nearly four years and only radio broadcaster Don Robbs remembers the last time the Rainbows went to a College World Series.
So who won last night's season opener in the inaugural First Pitch Classic at frigid Rainbow Stadium? Surprise, surprise, the Rainbows, 3-2, in 10 innings.
"This was a great win for us," said Robert Medeiros, who scored the winning run by sliding wide and avoiding Miami catcher Mike Lopez-Cao's tag at the plate. "Everybody was up and cheering loud at the end of the game.
"You know this team is young, but we're going to be feisty. We're going to battle all the games. Everybody wants to win. These young guys have a lot of emotion."
They wore it on their sleeves from the first to the final inning.
Freshmen Sean Murphy and Jamie Aloy got it started with back-to-back RBI singles in the second to give Hawaii an early 2-0 lead.
Even an error by shortstop Key Voshell, followed by a two-run bomb off the scoreboard in right-center by Miami's Rick Saggese in the fourth to tie it did little to dampen Hawaii's spirit.
Gritty starting pitcher Andrew McNally shook off his mistake to keep the Rainbows in it by limiting the Hurricanes to no runs over the next four innings before being lifted in the ninth.
Winning pitcher Troy Yoshimasu picked up where McNally left off by hurling two shutout innings. He didn't give up a hit or a walk, and struck out two to set up the dramatic 10th.
Daren Masanda drew a leadoff walk, but was thrown out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Medeiros. Despite a pitchout, Medeiros successfully stole second, thanks in part to a high throw by catcher Lopez-Cao.
After losing pitcher Eddy Reyes walked Greg Millichap to set up the force, UH head coach Les Murakami gave both runners the green light on the base paths.
Reyes gave Medeiros only a token look, so he took off and successfully stole third with Millichap sliding safely into second.
Miami head coach Jim Morris opted to pitch to Voshell instead of walking him to load the bases. After working the count to 3-1, Voshell was looking fastball all the way, and that's what he got.
"I knew he had to come with something good," Voshell said. "It happened to be right there and I swung. I thought Bob would be thrown out because it was hit pretty good."
Miami shortstop Bobby Hill fielded the two-hop grounder cleanly, but his throw to the plate was a shade up the first-base line, allowing Medeiros to hook slide safely with the winning run.
"The ball was a little bit up the line, but it was still a close play," Lopez-Cao said. "If the umpire ruled him safe, then I can't make a different call."
Home-plate umpire Larry Randall said afterward that it wasn't even close. Medeiros' foot slid across the plate an instant before Lopez-Cao applied the tag.
"I was in there, no problem," Medeiros said.
"I didn't break cleanly because I wanted to make sure I wasn't doubled off.
"Coach told me to go if the ball was on the ground. Even if I got into a pickle, we'd still have Greg at third with two outs. So I just broke to the plate and slid in there. They didn't even argue it."
Miami fell to 0-9 lifetime in road openers, something Morris blamed on several different factors, including untimely hitting, a leadoff walk in the 10th and his relief pitcher not holding the runners closer to the bags.
"We didn't play well enough to win," a dejected Morris said. "There are little things you have to do in a close game like this, and if they had lost by one run, they'd probably be saying the same thing, too.
"We didn't do a very good job of hitting the ball with guys in scoring position. This is what the early season is all about because you find out things about your team.
"The bottom line is we didn't swing the bat very well. I thought the kid beat the throw to the plate. It was a good call."
Murakami agreed.
"I thought he was safe, no question," Murakami said. "Our kids fought hard until the end. It would have been tough for us to lose a game like this."
Miami Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Grimmett cf 5 1 0 0 Honma lf 4 0 1 0 Alvarez dh 5 0 1 0 Masanda 2b 4 0 1 0 Saggese 1b 4 1 2 2 Medeiros c 5 1 0 0 Jacomino lf 2 0 1 0 Millichap rf 4 0 1 0 Michaels rf 4 0 0 0 Voshell ss 5 1 3 1 Lopez-Cao c 4 0 0 0 Blakely cf 4 0 0 0 Hill ss 3 0 1 0 Murphy 3b 4 1 2 1 Esquival 3b 2 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 4 0 1 1 Huff ph 1 0 0 0 Nakano dh 3 0 0 0 Gutierrez 3b 1 0 0 0 Bergman ph 1 0 0 0 Cartaya 2b 4 0 0 0 Totals 35 2 5 2 Totals 38 3 9 3E-Arteaga, Esquival, Voshell 2. DP-Hawaii 1 (Voshell-Masanda-Aloy). LOB-Miami 6, Hawaii 10.Miami 000 200 000 0-- 2 Hawaii 020 000 000 1-- 3
2B-Jacomino. HR-Saggese (1). SB-Hill (1), Medeiros 2 (2), Millichap (1), Voshell (1). CS-Hill, Honma.
IP H R ER BB SO Arteaga 6 7 2 2 0 4 Santos 2 2 0 0 1 2 Reyes (L,0-1) 11/3 0 1 1 2 1 McNally 8 5 2 1 2 8 Yoshimasu (W,1-0) 2 0 0 0 0 2WP-Arteaga. HBP-Hill (by McNally). PB-Lopez-Cao.
T-3:06. A-2,706.
Umpires-Randall, Pedersen, Gillmore.
Who: Hawaii vs. Miami.