[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brian Finegan slid safely into second base ahead of the tag of Cal State Northridge's Jesse Perez in the bottom of the fourth yesterday.
UH still searching
for first win
The Cal State Northridge pitching staff shut Hawaii down with just one hit over the final five innings to preserve a one-run lead and deal the Rainbows their fourth consecutive defeat.
The Matadors (3-1) scored the go-ahead runs in the fifth and held on for a 4-3 victory in the opener of a three-game, nonconference series last night before a turnstile crowd of 1,061 at Murakami Stadium.
It is the first time since Hawaii went to an all-collegiate schedule in 1975 that the 'Bows (0-4) have lost four consecutive games to start a season.
The Rainbows finally had a starting pitcher get out of the fourth inning, as Clary Carlsen went seven, but the UH offense wasn't clicking and the defense made two errors in the third inning that hurt.
"Those two errors cost us, and four hits just isn't going to get it done," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Neither team took advantage of opportunities after that. This was a swing game, the kind of game you know you should have won, the kind of game that tells you what kind of season you are going to have."
The Rainbows mustered a run in the first inning without benefit of a hit. CSN starter Peter Eberhardt walked Robbie Wilder and Andrew Sansaver to start the inning. The runners advanced a base on Eberhardt's wild pickoff throw to second and Wilder scored on Jaziel Mendoza's groundout.
The Hawaii infield had trouble catching the ball in the top of the third, when the Matadors scored two unearned runs.
After Jesse Perez singled to left on a two-strike pitch and took second on Adam Fleener's sacrifice bunt, Raymond Ravago's bouncer caromed off Sansaver's glove into right, allowing Perez to score. UH third baseman Rocky Russo then muffed Drew Aguailar's high-hopper, moving Ravago to second. He took third on a fielder's choice grounder and scored on Mark McCauley's line single to right.
The 'Bows got their first hit, a leadoff single to right by Mendoza, and retook the lead, 3-2, in the fourth. He went to second on Josh Green's groundout and scored on Brian Finegan's single to center. Finegan stole second, the first UH stolen base of the season, and scored on Russo's two-out single up the middle.
The Matadors answered with a pair of earned runs to go ahead 4-3 in the fifth. Quinn Ciccarelli doubled to left-center to open the inning, took third on Aguailar's sacrifice and scored on McCauley's grounder to short.
Carlsen then hit Keith Renno with a 2-1 pitch. Renno stole second and scored on Michael Paulk's line single to center.
Carlsen finished with a three-pitch seventh inning, but suffered his second loss of the season.
"Clary didn't have his best stuff, was up in the zone too much, which isn't like him, but I'll take seven innings and two earned runs from him anytime," Trapasso said.
"We just haven't put it together on offense and defense yet."
CSN got two runners to second base in the sixth, but neither reached third as Fleener was caught in a rundown on Ciccarelli's ground ball to Finegan, who tossed to second baseman Isaac Omura for the tag out.
Hawaii's fourth hit came with one out in the seventh on Matt Inouye's double to right-center field off CSN reliever Nathan Hochgesang. After one pitch to the next batter, Hochgesang picked Inouye off second with a well-executed timing play to shortstop Perez.
Fleener and Ravago singled with one out against UH reliever Stephen Bryant, but he fanned Ciccarelli and Aguailar to escape trouble.
Junior right-hander Ricky Bauer will start for UH tonight.
Cal State Northridge 4, UH 3
E--Eberhardt; Sansaver; Russo. LOB--CSUN 11, Hawaii 4. 2B--Ciccarelli; Inouye. HBP--Renno; Russo. SH--Aguailar; Fleener; Ravago. SB--Ciccarelli; McCauley 2; Renno; Finegan.
CSUN AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Ciccarelli cf 5 1 1 0 Wilder cf 3 1 0 0 Aguailar dh 3 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 3 0 0 0 McCauley 3b 5 0 2 2 Thurber dh 3 0 0 0 Renno lf 4 1 0 0 Mendoza lf 4 1 1 1 Voita rf 4 0 1 0 Green rf 4 0 0 0 Paulk 1b 5 0 2 1 Finegan ss 4 1 1 1 Perez ss 4 1 1 0 Omura 2b 4 0 0 0 Fleener c 3 0 2 0 Russo 3b 2 0 1 1 Ravago 2b 3 1 1 0 Magana 3b 0 0 0 0 Inouye c 3 0 1 0 Totals 36 4 10 3 Totals 30 3 4 3 CSUN (3-1) 002 020 000 -- 4 10 1 Hawaii (0-4) 100 200 000 -- 3 4 2
WP--Eberhardt. S--Polanco. HBP--by Eberhardt (Russo); by Carlsen (Renno). Umpires--Keoki Torres (home), Jim LeBeau (first), Gary Montalbo (third). T--2:49. A--1,061.
CSUN IP H R ER BB SO Eberhardt (W, 1-1) 5.0 3 3 2 3 5 Hochgesang 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 Campbell 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Polanco 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Carlsen (L, 0-2) 7.0 7 4 2 2 0 Bryant 2.0 3 0 0 0 4
