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Monday, February 26, 2001
Fresno State FRESNO, Calif. -- The University of Hawaii Rainbows came so close to putting their first Western Athletic Conference baseball road victory in the books yesterday.
sneaks past
Hawaii
Bulldogs try for a sweep
today after yesterday's
11-inning winFrom staff and wire reports
The Rainbows needed one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and two in the 11th to seal the win, but could not deny the Bulldogs.
Fresno State rallied for its second consecutive win over UH, 6-5, when Josh Labandeira doubled to left-center field to drive in two runs in the bottom of the 11th.
Hawaii had broken a scoreless tie with a four-run, sixth inning. Gregg Omori and Brian Bock each contributed two-run doubles.
However, with Chad Boudon at third and Bock at second with one out, FSU reliever Jason Gutknecht retired the next two Rainbows to prevent an even bigger inning.
"We didn't come up short as far as trying. They played hard, but we're not executing at the right time," Hawaii acting head coach Carl Furutani said.
The Bulldogs (9-5, 4-1 WAC) scored three runs in the eighth to tighten the game, and tied it in the ninth.
A one-out walk on a full count to Tom Creighton got FSU going. He stole second to get into scoring position, but Oscar Lopez popped up to UH third baseman Patrick Scalabrini for the second out.
Brandon Gemoll then hit a hard grounder to shortstop, but Cortland Wilson let the ball go through for his second error of the game as Creighton tied the score at 4.
"The thing you're supposed to do is step in on the ball. Cortland stayed back and got caught in between hops," Furutani said.
Both sides went down in order in the 10th inning.
Hawaii took a 5-4 lead in the 11th when Wilson singled, took second on Art Gullen's sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Matt Purtell's groundout.
Scalabrini then ripped the first pitch through FSU third baseman Nick Garcia, scoring Wilson.
But, with one out in the bottom of the inning, pinch hitter Scott Beshears singled for his first hit of the season.
Hawaii's fourth pitcher, right-hander Bryan Lee, walked Gemoll and Casey McGehee singled to left to load the bases.
"In that situation, we had the matchup we wanted. The matchup favored Bryan. They had to hit the ball to win the game and that's what they did," Furutani said.
Lee fell behind Labandeira two balls. The FSU shortstop sent the third pitch to the left-center field alley, scoring pinch runner Dan Young and Gemoll easily.
Rainbow right-hander Sean Yamashita pitched the first 6 2/3 innings, allowing just four hits.
The series concludes with a game that starts at 5 p.m. today.
Bulldogs 6, Rainbows 5
Hawaii ab r h bi Fresno State ab r h bi Purtell 6 1 1 0 Creighton 2b 5 1 1 0 Scalabrini 3b 3 1 1 0 Lopez dh 4 1 1 0 Omori 1b 6 1 3 2 Beshears ph 1 0 1 0 Anderson dh 4 1 1 0 Young pr 0 1 0 0 Gilbride ph 1 0 0 0 Gemoll 1b 5 1 0 0 Boudon lf 5 0 2 0 McGehee lf 6 1 4 0 Bock c 5 0 1 2 Labandeira ss 4 0 1 3 Montgomery rf 5 0 1 0 Tafoya rf 5 1 1 1 Wilson ss 4 1 1 0 Garcia 3b 5 0 1 1 Guillen cf 4 0 0 0 Harper c 4 0 0 0 Guzman cf 4 0 1 0 Totals 43 5 11 4 Totals 43 6 11 5
Hawaii 000 004 000 01 -- 5 11 3 Fresno State 000 000 031 02 -- 6 11 4 One out when winning run scored.
E-Omori (4), Wilson 2 (6), Labandeira 2 (5), Garcia 2 (6).
DP-UH 1, FSU 2. LOB-UH 11, FSU 13.
2B-Omori (7), bock (3), McGehee (5) SB-Creighton (3), lopez (2), McGehee (1), Scalabrini (3). CS-Boudon (2), S-Guillen (2). SF-Labandeira (1).
Hawaii
ip h r er bb so Yamashita 6 2/3 4 0 0 2 3 Pribble 2/3 1 2 2 1 0 Childers 1 1/3 3 2 1 1 1 Lee (L,1-1) 1 2/3 3 2 2 2 1
Fresno State
ip h r er bb so Nieves 5 1/3 5 4 4 2 3 Gutknecht 1 1/3 2 0 0 0 0 Gonzalez 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 2 Hintz 2/3 1 0 0 0 1 Moran (W, 1-1) 2 1/3 2 1 0 0 3 Gonzalez pitched to one batter in the 9th Inning.
HBP-Anderson (by Nieves), Scalabrini (by Gonzalez).
Umpires-McCardell (plate), Gonzales (first), Franceschiell (third). T-3:05. A-2,695
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Rice 3 0 1.000 13 2 .867 Fresno St. 4 1 .800 9 5 .643 TCU 4 1 .800 9 6 .600 San Jose St. 2 3 .400 7 5 .554 Hawaii 2 3 .400 7 7 .500 Nevada 2 4 .333 5 9 .357 Hawaii-Hilo 2 7 .222 3 14 .176 Note: SJSU has one tie in a nonconference game.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
