A game that began last night ended dramatically early this morning with the University of Hawaii baseball team claiming its biggest win of the season.
After getting drilled, 10-3, by the University of Washington in the make-up game of the 22nd annual Bank of America Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament, the Rainbows rallied to knock off heated rival Cal State-Northridge, 6-5. How heated?
Well, how about a benches-clearing brawl in the seventh inning that was precipitated by a big-bang play at the plate between UH infielder Sean Murphy and Northridge catcher Brian Wagner.
Murphy, who broke a 4-4 tie earlier in the inning with an RBI-single to left, tried to score from second on a single to center by Tracy Nakano.
The freshman from Mid-Pacific Institute was gunned down at the plate on a tremendous throw by outfielder Andy Wilson for the third out of the inning.
Wagner was up the line about three feet and blocking home plate. Murphy had no choice but to collide with Wagner, who held onto the ball despite being knocked into the middle of next week.
Northridge first baseman Casey Cheshier took exception with the play and pushed Jamie Aloy, who was waiting on deck. Umpire Gary Montalbo quickly tossed him -- which will cost Cheshier an automatic two-game suspension -- then held his ground as both benches cleared and squared off behind home plate.
That's nothing new.
This is the third consecutive year that the Rainbows and the Matadors have met outside the lines. Northridge -- no longer a member of the the Western Athletic Conference -- had won 17 of 24 over Hawaii since 1993, including 10 of 11 at Matador Field.
But this was Rainbow Stadium. Granted, nearly an empty one as you might expect at that hour, but home nonetheless.
After giving up three in the top of the first and scoring only two in the bottom of the inning -- despite five Northridge errors -- the Rainbows still kept it close.
They can thank pitcher Daven Hermosura for that. He came in to relieve an ineffective Troy Yoshimasu with only one out in the first. The senior was still around three hours later to secure his first win of the season.
"I didn't have my best stuff, but there was no way they were going to get me out of there," said Hermosura, who almost ignited another brawl by plunking Wagner on the back in the eighth.
"This was a big win for us against our rival," he said. It felt really good to contribute in a game like this one."
Murphy's single, coupled with another run-scoring single by Daren Masanda, gave the Rainbows a 6-4 advantage entering the ninth.
Hermosura was tiring, but he refused to fall, despite yielding a double by all-everything Adam Kennedy and a run-scoring hit by Chris MacMillan that outfielder Greg Millichap played into a triple.
"That's where he shows his inexperience," UH head coach Les Murakami said of Millichap's ill-advised dive in right that flagged down nothing but air.
"Instead of trying to make a spectacular play and give the guy a triple, he should have cut it off and held him to a single. It put a lot of pressure on Hermosura."
But he responded by getting Cesar Martinez to pop out harmlessly to Aloy to give the struggling Rainbows an uplifting win.
They are 2-1 in tournament play entering tonight's big matchup with No. 14-ranked Wichita State. The Shockers rallied to beat the Huskies, 8-4, to raise their tourney record to 2-1.
Earlier in the day, the University of New Mexico knocked off Nebraska, 7-5. Like Wichita State, Hawaii and Washington, the Cornhuskers are 2-1 in tourney action. The Lobos are 1-2 and the Matadors fell to 0-3.
"If our pitching comes through, watch out for us," Murakami said. "We still need to win one more game to get into the championship bracket. But this was a big victory for our team."
The Rainbows certainly needed it after what the Huskies did to them. Freshman Dusty Bergman didn't survive the first en route to yielding four earned runs. The big blows were a two-run triple by Kevin Miller and a two-run double by Dominic Woody.
Washington added five more in the sixth to increase its lead to 10-1. The key blow was a three-run homer to right by Ryan Soules off reliever Jay Spurgeon, who continued to struggle.
Fellow pitcher Andrew McNally also was kicked out of the game. He questioned a call by Montalbo, who claimed Robert Medeiros was out at third in the third.
Television replays clearly showed that Montalbo had missed it badly. Several UH players, including McNally, watched the replay on the television camera located at the end of the dugout.
Montalbo came down and told the UH coaches he was going to turn off the camera if the players kept going down to watch the replay. According to UH coaches, McNally yelled out, "Then call the game right." Montalbo countered, "Who said that?" McNally replied, "I did." Montalbo said, "You're out of the game."
New Mexico 7, Nebraska 5: New Mexico rallied from its opening defeat to Hawaii to hand Nebraska its first tourney loss.
Lon Yamaguchi had a two-run triple, while Mason Carter drove in a pair of runs as well. Greg Anderson picked up the win in relief, while Brandon Banuelos was tagged with the loss.
Wichita State 8, Washington 4: The Huskies held a 4-1 advantage going into the bottom of the seventh, but that disappeared after the Shockers scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth.
The key hitters for Wichita State were Ben Fogarty, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Jeff Ryan. He was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. Miller drove in two with a homer in the fourth for Washington, his sixth of the year.
Standings
W L Pct. Hawaii 2 1 .667 Nebraska 2 1 .667 Washington 2 1 .667 Wichita State 2 1 .667 New Mexico 1 2 .333 CS Northridge 0 3 .000
Yesterday's resultsNew Mexico 7, Nebraska 5
Wichita State 8, Washington 4
Washington 10, Hawaii 3
Hawaii 6, Cal State Northridge 5
Today's games
At Rainbow Stadium
New Mexico vs. Cal State Northridge, 11 a.m.
Nebraska vs. Washington, 2:30 p.m.
Wichita State vs. University of Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
Washington Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Magruder cf 5 3 2 0 Dartt ss 3 0 0 0 Stefonick rf 2 1 0 0 Pico ss 1 0 0 0 Na lf 1 1 0 0 Honma rf 4 1 2 1 Miller ss 5 1 2 3 Millichap rf 2 0 0 0 Whitemarsh 2b 0 0 0 0 Hansen c 2 0 0 0 Soules 1b 4 1 1 3 Murphy 3b 4 0 0 0 Erickson 1b 1 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 4 1 2 0 Williamson dh 5 1 3 0 Medeiros lf 4 0 1 0 Lentz 3b 4 2 1 0 Nakano dh 4 0 0 0 Woody c 5 0 2 2 Masanda 2b 4 1 1 0 Nakagawa ss 1 0 0 1 Blakely cf 3 0 2 0 Woods cf 3 0 0 0 Buck rf 2 0 0 1 Totals 38 10 11 10 Totals 35 3 8 1 Washington 400 105 000--10 Hawaii 100 000 110-- 3E--Nakagawa 2, Aloy, Medeiros, Spurgeon. DP--Washington 1 (Nakagawa-Miller-Soules). LOB--Washington 9, Hawaii 5.
2B--Williamson, Woody, Aloy. 3B--Miller. HR--Soules (6). SB--Magruder 3 (16), Stefonick (2), Honma (11), Millichap (11). CS--Miller, Medeiros.
IP H R ER BB SO Fowler (W,1-2) 8 7 3 0 0 5 Lee 1 1 0 0 0 0 Bergman (L,1-4) 2/3 7 4 4 3 2 Spurgeon 4-2/3 7 6 5 4 5 Mackenzie 3-2/3 1 0 0 1 3WP--Spurgeon 2. PB--Woody. T--3:18.
Umpires--Shelstad (plate), Montalbo (bases).
Cal State Northridge Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Sledge lf 5 0 0 0 Blakely cf 4 2 2 0 Wilson cf 4 2 2 0 Honma lf 3 0 0 0 Kennedy ss 4 2 3 1 Millichap rf 4 2 0 0 Miranda rf 3 1 1 0 Murphy 3b 4 1 2 1 MacMillan dh 5 0 2 2 Medeiros c 4 1 1 0 Martinez 2b 4 0 0 0 Masanda 2b 3 0 3 2 Cheshier 1b 3 0 0 0 Voshell dh 3 0 0 0 Mendoza 1b 1 0 0 0 Nakano ph 1 0 1 0 Wagner c 2 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 3 0 0 0 McNeely 3b 4 0 1 0 Dartt ss 4 0 0 0 Totals 35 5 9 3 Totals 33 6 9 3 Cal State Northridge 300 000 101--5 Hawaii 200 002 20x--6E--Martinez 2, McNeely 2, Rice 2, Aloy, Dartt. DP--CS Northridge 2 (Martinez-Kennedy-Cheshier, Kennedy-Martinez-Cheshier). LOB--Cal CS Northridge 10, Hawaii 7.
2B--Kennedy 2 (17), Medeiros (7). 3B--Wilson (1), MacMillan (1). SB--Honma (11).
IP H R ER BB SO Rice (L, 3-3) 6-1/3 6 6 2 4 3 Stephenson 1-2/3 3 0 0 0 1 Yoshimasu 1/3 1 3 3 1 1 Hermosura (W, 1-2) 8-2/3 8 2 2 3 3WP--Yoshimasu, Hermosura. PB--Wagner 2. HBP--Wagner 2 (by Hermosura).
T--3:22. A--1,554 (turnstile), 3,175 (tickets issued). Umpires--Montalbo (plate), Shelstad (bases).
New Mexico 7, Nebraska 5
New Mexico 000 430 0--7 9 3 Nebraska 200 003 0--5 6 2J.C. Ortiz, Greg Anderson (2), David Waites (6) and Jeff Hix; Brandon Banuelos, Jay Sirianni (4), Tevis Arnold (5), Brian Zubor (5), Spencer Van Linge (7) and Andrew Sawyers, Michael Knust. W--Anderson (3-0). L--Banuelos (1-2). Sv--Waites (2).
Leading hitters--NM: Lon Yamaguchi, 1-1, 3b, 3 RBIs; Hix 2-4, 2 2b; Mason Carter, 2-4, 2b, 2 RBIs; Miguel Montiel, 2b. Neb: Francis Collins, 3-3.
Wichita State 8, Washington 4
Washington 000 400 000--4 7 2 Wichita St. 100 000 52x--8 14 0Jeff Lynch, Bryan Williamson (7) and Ryan Bundy; Steve Foral, Marc Bluma (9) and Nathan Reese. W--Foral (5-1). L--Lynch (0-2).
Leading hitters--UW: Kevin Miller, 3-4, 2 RBIs, HR; Ryan Lentz, 2b; Bundy, 2b. WS: Kevin Hooper, 2-5; Jeff Ryan, 2-4, 2b, 3b, 2 RBIs; Casey Davis, 2-4; Ben Fogarty, 2-5, 2b, 3 RBIs; Pat Magness, 2-4; Casey Walkup, 2-3.
1420-AM