Rainbows break through in Reno

RENO, Nev. » The Hawaii Rainbows used an improbable two-out, ninth-inning rally yesterday to win a Western Athletic Conference series from the Nevada Wolf Pack for the first time at Peccole Park.

Justin Frash lined a three-run double down the left-field line to put the 'Bows ahead and Tyler Davis retired the final seven Nevada batters he faced to highlight the 8-5 victory.

The Rainbows (27-11, 5-5) trailed 5-3 entering the ninth against Wesley Dorsett, who had worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by throwing a double-play ball to Matt Inouye.

Dorsett struck out Esteban Lopez to start the ninth, gave up a single to pinch hitter Kris Sanchez, then fanned Ryan Asato for the second out.

Dorsett then ran into major control problems.

He walked Eli Christensen and Robbie Wilder on 3-1 pitches to load the bases. Joe Spiers worked the count to 3-2, then fouled off two pitches.

"Lost in the shuffle was the at-bat Joe had before Justin came up. They have been throwing Joe sliders all series. I told Chad (Konishi) they are going to throw him another one and Joe is going to screw himself into the ground. It was a good slider, just off the plate and low and Joe took it (for ball four)," Trapasso said.

Spiers' walk forced Sanchez home with UH's fourth run.

Nevada coach Gary Powers then went to the bullpen for left-hander Patrick Mason to face the left-hand-hitting Frash, who leads the team with a .398 batting average.

The junior college transfer took a strike and fouled off two pitches before placing his bases-clearing double down the left-field line. He then scored UH's final run on a single to right by Luis Avila.

"You can't be comfortable in the park because things happen here. This was a tough one. I'm so proud of our guys. It was a big win for us obviously," Trapasso said.

Rainbow starter Justin Costi gave up two hits and a run in the first inning, then was untouchable until the seventh, when Leo Radkowski and Dan Eastham started the inning with singles. Both runners scored after Lopez threw David Ciarlo's sacrifice bunt into right field, the catcher's first error of the season.

Davis replaced Costi, who deserved a better fate, and gave up a single to Drew Johnson and a run-scoring double to Matt Bowman to give Nevada (15-18, 5-6) a 5-3 lead, before getting out of the inning. Davis closed out the game by retiring the Wolf Pack in order in the eighth and ninth innings.

"I feel for Gary. No matter how the ninth inning played out, one team was going to be all tore up inside," Trapasso said. "You look at how we got them back into the game and then they had a chance to close it out and couldn't throw strikes.

"As Yogi Berra said, 'Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good,' or was it 'It's never over until it's over' "

The 'Bows, held to one hit through five innings by Wolf Pack starter Travis Sutton, connected for five hits off the senior right-hander in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. The key blow was a two-run triple by Spiers, who extended his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games. He scored on a single to center by Frash.

Hawaii will start left-hander Ian Harrington today as the Rainbows attempt to sweep the series and finish the road trip with a winning record. They are 3-2 so far on the trip and 8-2 in road games this season.

Note: Freshman right-hander Matt Daly joined outfielders Derek DuPree and Jorge Franco on the sick list at the team hotel with the flu yesterday.