[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Bauer gets road victory
He pitches 7 1/3 innings as the
Rainbows beat the Bulldogs 4-2
FRESNO, Calif. » Hawaii played great defense, received solid pitching and produced just enough runs with 13 hits to win the opener of a three-game Western Athletic Conference series with Fresno State last night.
The 4-2 triumph improved the Rainbows' overall record to 24-13, 8-5 in conference.
Ricky Bauer, who had three no-decisions in his last three starts, earned his seventh victory of the season with the help of closer Darrell Fisherbaugh.
"Ricky was good. He threw all his pitches for strikes, which is Ricky," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He did not have his best stuff, his velocity was down to between 82 and 85 (mph), but he threw his offspeed pitches for strikes and his command was good."
The junior right-hander did not walk a batter and struck out three in 7 1/3 innings. He threw 90 pitches and 69 were strikes.
After Bauer gave up a single to Chris Patrick and a double to left-center field by Ritchie Robnett to start the eighth inning, Fisherbaugh took over.
On Robnett's double, Patrick was thrown out at the plate on a relay from center fielder Matt Inouye to shortstop Brian Finegan to catcher Creighton Kahoali'i.
"We made two perfect throws on that play. We caught a break when they sent the runner. It was an easy out. It was textbook to watch," Trapasso said.
The 'Bows almost doubled Robnett off second on David Gomez's line drive to Finegan, but the throw to Isaac Omura was not in time. Robnett then scored FSU's second run on a single to center by Brandon Marcelli.
Fisherbaugh then fanned Christian Vitters to end the inning and struck out two of the three Bulldogs he faced in the ninth. The freshman right-hander saved his fifth game and has fanned 39 batters in 28 innings.
FSU (17-25, 5-6) also had a runner thrown out at the plate in the fourth. With one out and runners at first and third, the Bulldogs tried the safety squeeze, but UH third baseman Schafer Magana fielded DeAndre Miller's bunt and flipped the ball in time for Kahoali'i to put the tag on Vitters.
"Instead of pushing a bunt toward first that would have been a run, he (Miller) tried to drag the ball," Trapasso said. "Schafer was crashing, barehanded the ball and tossed to Creighton. It was a great play."
Hawaii built a 2-0 lead with runs in the third and fourth innings after failing to score on a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the first.
Greg Kish opened the third with a line double off the left-field wall. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Jaziel Mendoza grounded a single into right.
Omura's two-out single to right that increased his hitting streak to 11 got the 'Bows going in the fourth. He took second on Finegan's single to left. Both runners moved up a base when FSU second baseman Ryan Haag could not catch a pickoff throw from pitcher Michael Cooper.
Omura scored on Kish's infield single up the first-base line. On the play, Kish was hit on his helmet by the throw from Cooper, stumbled and twisted his left ankle when he lost his balance going over the bag. He had to leave the game and was replaced in right field by Josh Green.
Kish probably won't play again in this series and is questionable for next week's home series against Nevada.
"Greg was seen by their orthopedic surgeon and he said it was not broken," Trapasso said. "He thought it was a mid-ankle sprain, but we will have to wait until the swelling goes down. That is a big blow for us, as he is our best hitter."
Nursing a 2-0 lead, the 'Bows got what proved to be the winning run and an insurance run in the seventh when Andrew Sansaver drove Cooper's first pitch over the center-field wall with Rocky Russo on base. It was the senior first baseman's first homer of the season.
"We kind of bled them to death. We got a lot of hits that fell in and got some breaks, but we didn't get anything generated on offense," Trapasso said. "It was a strange game offensively and I thought the first inning was going to be a bad omen."
Stephen Bryant (5-2, 2.03 earned-run average) starts for UH tonight.
WAC standings
Conference All games W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 15 1 .938 -- 32 7 .821 Hawaii 8 5 .615 5 1/2 24 13 .649 Nevada 7 6 .538 6 1/2 22 18 .550 Fresno State 5 8 .385 8 1/2 17 25 .405 San Jose State 6 13 .316 10 1/2 16 22 .421 Louisiana Tech 4 12 .250 11 13 29 .310 San Jose State has one non-conference tie.
Yesterday
Rice 4, Louisiana Tech 1
Hawaii 4, Fresno State 2
Nevada 3, San Jose State 2
Today
Rice at Louisiana Tech
Nevada at San Jose State
Hawaii at Fresno State, 3:30 p.m.
Hawaii 4, Fresno State 2
Hawaii AB R H BI FSU AB R H BI Finegan ss 5 0 2 0 Haag 2b 4 0 0 0 Kish rf 2 1 2 1 Patrick ss 4 0 2 0 Green pr/rf 2 0 0 0 Robnett cf 4 1 2 0 Inouye cf 5 0 1 0 Gomez dh 4 0 1 0 Mendoza lf 4 0 2 1 Marcelli c 4 0 3 1 Russo dh 4 1 2 0 Vitters 3b 4 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 1 2 Esparza 1b 4 1 2 1 Kahoali'i c 4 0 1 0 Miller, D. lf 1 0 0 0 Magana 3b 4 0 1 0 Moresi pr/rf 2 0 0 0 Omura 2b 4 1 1 0 Miller, B. rf 2 0 0 0 Moore lf 2 0 0 0 Totals 38 4 13 4 Totals 35 2 10 2 Hawaii 001 100 200 -- 4 13 0 Fresno State 000 000 110 -- 2 10 3 E--Haag; Vitters; Cooper. DP--Hawaii 1. LOB--Hawaii 9, Fresno State 7. 2B--Kish; Robnett. HR--Sansaver (1); Esparaza (2). SH--Kish. SB--Robnett (14). CS--Inouye (2).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (W, 7-2) 7.1 9 2 2 0 3 Fisherbaugh (S, 5) 1.2 1 0 0 0 3 Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Cooper (L, 2-7) 7.0 11 4 3 1 4 Ball 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 Griffin 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 WP--Cooper. HBP--by Bauer (Miller, D.). Umpires--Bill Speck (home), Rick Saxton(first), Ken Bayne (third). T--2:57. Tickets issued--2,248.