The Nevada Wolf Pack took what the Hawaii pitchers offered last night, mainly pitches on the outside part of the plate, and produced a 6-4 victory. Streelman sticks Hawaii
with another home lossBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comEight of the nine Nevada hits were stroked to the opposite field, but none was bigger than the one Erick Streelman whacked in the eighth inning.
One swing of Streelman's bat was all it took for the Wolf Pack to clinch the Western Athletic Conference baseball series with Hawaii before 1,414 fans at Murakami Stadium.
Streelman jerked a 1-1 pitch from Keahi Rawlins over the right-field wall with Kevin Kouzmanoff aboard to break a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning.
"The pitch was up, but I'm not going to fault Keahi (Rawlins) for one bad pitch after what he did for us," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso.
The loss keeps Hawaii (14-11, 1-7 WAC) winless at home in conference play. It was Nevada's seventh consecutive victory over the Rainbows.
The teams conclude the three-game set today at 1:05 p.m. Justin Cayetano for UH and Eddie Bonine for Nevada are the starters.
The Wolf Pack (11-13, 3-2) scored a run in the third after being denied in the second when they loaded the bases with one out.
UH starter Rich Olsen worked out of that jam by fanning Mike Hass and getting Robert Marcial to hit a 3-2 pitch back up the middle that shortstop Brian Finegan could field on his knees, stand and throw to first in time to get the out.
Olsen was not as fortunate in the third when Ryan Strain singled on the first pitch, took second on a grounder, stole third and scored on Chris Dickerson's single to left.
The Rainbows answered in the bottom with three runs.
Tim Montgomery started the inning with a one-hop double off the wall in the left-field corner. He scored on Nick Ponomarenko's single just inside the third-base bag.
Andrew Sansaver, attempting to sacrifice, pushed a perfect bunt toward second that attracted three Nevada infielders, but no one covered first base and Sansaver was safe with an infield single. Finegan also tried to sacrifice, but the Wolf Pack managed an out at third.
Isaac Omura then extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI single to center that scored Sansaver and sent Finegan to third. Finegan then scored on Brent Cook's fielder's choice grounder.
Nevada loaded the bases again with two out in the fourth. Strain's line single the opposite way to left brought in Streelman and Hass. A single to right by Hayes plated Marcial for a 4-3 lead.
"We had a tough play in that inning where Omura did not get the guy at first," said Trapasso. "After that the next three hits were off of fastballs and that is disappointing because Rich's best pitch is his curve ball. We've got to make that play."
UH pulled even in the sixth when Cook beat out a bunt up the third-base line, moved to third on Brian Bock's hit-and-run single to right and scored on Matt Inouye's fly to center.
"We competed better at the plate tonight but we're still not back to where we need to be," said Trapasso.
Nevada 6, Hawaii 4
Nevada AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Strain 2b 4 1 2 2 Finegan ss 4 1 1 0 Madrid 2b 0 0 0 0 Omura 2b 4 0 1 1 Hayes c 5 0 1 1 Cook 3b 4 1 2 1 Dickerson cf 4 0 1 1 Bock c 4 0 1 0 Kouzmanoff 3b 4 1 2 0 Inouye 1f 3 0 0 1 Mummy 1b 2 0 0 0 Green rf 3 0 0 0 Streelman 1f 2 2 1 2 Montgomery cf 4 1 1 0 Gimenez 1f 0 0 0 0 Ponomarenko dh 3 0 1 1 Cappuccilli dh 2 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 1 0 Pullins ph 1 0 0 0 Hass rf 4 1 1 0 Marcial ss 2 1 0 0 Totals 30 6 9 6 Totals 33 4 8 4
Nevada 001 300 020 -- 6 9 1 Hawaii 003 001 000 -- 4 8 0 E -- Marcial.
DP -- Nevada 1.
LOB -- Nevada 5, Hawaii 5.
2B -- Montgomery.
HR -- Streelman.
SH -- Strain.
SF -- Inouye.
SB -- Strain.
CS -- Marcial, Finegan.
Nevada IP H R ER BB SO Sherman 6 7 4 4 1 4 Gottier (W, 2-1) 2 1 0 0 1 2 Basch (S, 4) 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Olsen 4 7 4 4 2 3 Rawlins (L, 0-2) 4 2 2 2 1 2 Carlsen 1 0 0 0 0 1 HBP -- Cappuccilli (by Olsen); Marcial (by Rawlins).
BK -- Olsen.
Umpires -- HP: Richard Saxton, 1b: Don Greman, 3b: Chad McCardell.
T -- 2:40.
A -- 1,414.
UH Athletics
