RAINBOW BASEBALL
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Landon Hernandez of Hawaii slid in safely ahead of the tag by Pacific shortstop Denis Hill.
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Rainbows take second straight from Pacific
When the tension reached its peak, Tyler Davis found his comfort zone.
With Hawaii clinging to a tenuous one-run lead late in yesterday's game with Pacific, the Rainbows' closer struck out the last five batters he faced to preserve the 4-3 win before a crowd of 884 at Les Murakami Stadium.
Hawaii (6-2) takes a four-game winning streak into today's series finale and goes for its first sweep of the season when the teams meet at 1:05 p.m.
Pacific (2-4) sliced a 4-0 Hawaii lead to one with a three-run eighth-inning outburst and threatened to catch the Rainbows with runners on second and third and one out.
But after giving up a sacrifice fly and two run-scoring hits, Davis bore down and the Tigers didn't put another ball in play the rest of the way.
"That's the job, that's the situation you want to come into," the senior right-hander said after recording his second save of the season.
"It's fun -- that's why you practice and put in all that hard work, to go into a situation like that and succeed. So it was a good experience."
Hawaii starter Mark Rodrigues improved to 3-0, giving up five hits and striking out three in 5 1/3 innings. Matt Daly relieved Rodrigues and was charged with the three runs in the eighth.
The trio of Hawaii pitchers surrendered 12 hits, but walked none and struck out nine among them.
Hawaii first baseman Kris Sanchez continued his hot start with a 2-for-5 performance and his second home run in as many games. Catcher Landon Hernandez went 3-for-5.
Still, Pacific's near comeback from a 4-0 hole concerned UH coach Mike Trapasso.
"You take the wins, but we lost some toughness today late in the game," Trapasso said. "I felt like all of the intensity went out of our team when we had a four-run lead. In college baseball, against a good offensive club you never know what can happen.
"All the momentum was on their side ... and Tyler was able to pick us up on the mound."
Hawaii left five runners on base over the first two innings before Sanchez gave UH its first runs with his homer in the bottom of the third. After Brandon Haislet walked with one out, Sanchez turned on an 0-1 change-up from Pacific left-hander Joey Centanni (0-1) and a stiff breeze blowing to right helped carry it over the fence.
"The two previous series it was blowing out to left and today and yesterday it was swirling out to right," said Sanchez, who hit a grand slam in UH's 13-1 win on Friday. "So I knew if I could get a ball up in the air it had a good chance of leaving the yard."
The Rainbows added two more runs in the sixth inning. With one out, Vinnie Catricala singled to center for his first hit of the season and Jorge Franco walked. Nate Young then grounded back to Centanni, but the pitcher's throw to second was wild, allowing Catricala to score from second.
Justin Frash walked to load the bases and Centanni grazed Haislet with a pitch to score Franco from third, putting UH up 4-0. That brought Pacific coach Ed Sprague out of the dugout and it wasn't long before he was tossed by home-plate umpire Ryan Arasato.
The UH shutout held until the eighth inning, when Pacific led off with three consecutive singles and Davis came in to relieve Daly.
Joe Oliveira got the Tigers on the board with a sacrifice fly to center and Zach Chamberlin's flare to right fell in for an RBI single, scoring Justin Baum. Brett Manning then doubled past a diving Sanchez into the right-field corner to bring Jason Haar around to score and cut the UH lead to 4-3.
"I felt like I was making some decent pitches early but just not good enough," Davis said. "I wasn't getting the bite on my slider that I wanted to and wasn't locating my fastball. It was more mental than anything. I just felt like I needed to bear down and put the ball exactly where it needed to be."
Davis then got pinch hitters Clint Eastman and Noah St. Urbain to strike out swinging. After Hawaii went scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, Davis struck out the side in the ninth to end the game.
"You have to expect that from him," Sanchez said. "He's got great stuff but, even more than that, he's a great competitor."
Junior right-hander Joshua Schneider (0-0) is scheduled to start for Hawaii in today's finale. Right-hander Hunter Carnevale (1-0) is slated to start for Pacific.
Hawaii 4, Pacific 3
Pacific |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
|
Ching 2b |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Franco lf |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0
|
Oliveira c |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Young 2b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Baum 3b |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Frash 3b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Haar dh |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Haislet cf |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1
|
Walker 1b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Sanchez 1b |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2
|
Murray lf |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Christensen ss |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Chamberlin phrf |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
Hernandez c |
5 |
0 |
3 |
0
|
Hamren rf |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Asato rf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Manning phlf |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
Roquemore phrf |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Joines cf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Catricala dh |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0
|
Eastman ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Fuson cf |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Hill ss |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
St. Urbain ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Powers ss |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
38 |
3 |
12 |
3 |
Totals |
33 |
4 |
10 |
3 |
Pacific |
|
|
|
000 |
000 |
030 |
-- |
3 |
12 |
1
|
Hawaii |
|
|
|
002 |
002 |
00x |
-- |
4 |
10 |
0 |
E--Centanni. DP-- Pacific 1. LOB--Pacific 9, Hawaii 15. 2B--Hamren; Manning; Franco; Hernandez. HR-- Sanchez. HBP--Haislet. SF--Walker; Haislet. SB--Baum; Roquemore.
Pacific |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO
|
Centanni (L, 0-1) |
5 1/3 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
0
|
Pasma |
1 2/3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2
|
Wild |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO
|
Rodrigues (W, 3-0) |
5 1/3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Daly |
1 2/3 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1
|
Davis |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
HBP--by Centanni (Haislet).
Umpires--Ozzie Ortiz (plate); Dan Farnsworth (first); Cary Izuka (third).
T--2:55. A--2,063.