RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Nick Rhodes allowed three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings in last night's 8-3 win over NMSU.
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’Bows make it three in a row
Macdonald and Catricala key Hawaii's 8-3 win over New Mexico State
The Hawaii baseball team had six wins over the final 24 games of the first half of the season.
It's only taken 11 days since the halfway point to match that.
Kevin Macdonald went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Vinnie Catricala capped a six-run fourth inning with a key two-run double as the Rainbows got an 8-3 Western Athletic Conference victory over New Mexico State last night at Les Murakami Stadium to improve to 6-1 in the second half of the season.
A crowd of 1,336 watched the 'Bows score their most runs at home since their second series of the year.
"(The fourth) was our best inning of the year offensively," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We got some big two-out hits and executed some hit-and-runs."
Hawaii (15-20, 7-7 WAC) handed New Mexico State (15-18, 4-6) its fifth consecutive conference loss. After a 2-6 start in league play, the Rainbows reached the .500 mark in the WAC at 7-7 and are just two games out of first place.
Rainbows starter Nick Rhodes allowed three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 2-4 this year. He's been much more effective pitching at night, so the Aggies got after him before the sun had completely set.
Joseph Scaperotta doubled with one out in the first and scored on a long RBI single by Chris Auten, who smashed a line drive off the wall in right field.
The Rainbows quickly tied it in the bottom of the inning on a one-out single by Brandon Haislet to score Sean Montplaisir. The Rainbows loaded the bases, but Catricala bounced out to the pitcher to end the threat.
The sun was nowhere to be seen by then and the left-handed Rhodes went to work. After Auten's single, Rhodes retired 11 batters in a row until Marcus Quade singled to open the fifth.
The Rainbows led 7-1 at that point after a six-run fourth inning. Greg Garcia opened with a single and consecutive hit batters loaded the bases with nobody out. Derek DuPree drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Jon Hee singled to left to make it 3-1. After a groundout by Haislet, Jeff Van Doornum walked to reload the bases. Macdonald hit a two-run single and Catricala followed with a two-run double to give Hawaii a six-run lead.
"It felt great to finally get to second base," Catricala said. "It's been a long time since I got there. I was just trying to do a job and got it done."
After allowing the single to Quade, Rhodes struck out the next three batters to end the fifth. The Aggies took it to Rhodes in the next inning, however, as Richard Stout walked and Scaperotta and Auten followed with singles to score a run. Rhodes faced one more batter before being replaced by Matt Daly, who walked two guys to force in a run. Pinch hitter Bryan Marquez came to bat as the tying run, but struck out as Hawaii preserved a 7-3 lead.
Catricala led off the seventh by reaching on an error by Marquez and came around to score on a fielder's choice by DuPree to push Hawaii's lead to five.
Daly finished the game by throwing the final 3 2/3 innings. After walking two batters in the sixth, he retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced and struck out seven to earn the unconventional save.
"Daly struggled but was able to finish for us, which was big," Trapasso said. "For him to find it there at the end and finish to save the bullpen was big because I didn't want to have to go to the bullpen because he couldn't throw strikes."
The Rainbows will attempt to sweep the Aggies today with a doubleheader beginning at 1:05 p.m. In their two previous four-game series at home this year, the Rainbows won the first two, only to split the series.
"Obviously we're going to have to take it one game at a time," Rhodes said. "We have to get that Game 3 first then we can worry about Game 4."
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kevin Macdonald of Hawaii slid in ahead of the tag by New Mexico State catcher Joe Leghorn during last night's win.
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WAC standings
|
W |
L |
PCT. |
|
GB |
W-L |
Sacramento State |
8 |
4 |
.667 |
|
-- |
13-16 |
Nevada |
8 |
4 |
.667 |
|
-- |
18-14 |
Fresno State |
6 |
3 |
.667 |
|
1/2 |
17-15 |
Hawaii |
7 |
7 |
.500 |
|
2 |
15-20 |
New Mexico State |
4 |
6 |
.400 |
|
3 |
15-18 |
San Jose State |
7 |
9 |
.438 |
|
3 |
16-14 |
Louisiana Tech |
2 |
9 |
.182 |
|
5 1/2 |
15-15 |
Yesterday
Hawaii 8, New Mexico State 3
San Jose State 9, Sacramento State 4
Fresno State 14, Louisiana Tech 5
Nevada 1, Utah Valley 0
Today
New Mexico State at
Hawaii, 1 p.m., 4:05 p.m.
Utah Valley at Nevada (2)
San Jose State at Sacramento State (2)
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State (2)
Tomorrow
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State
San Jose State at Sacramento State
Utah Valley at Nevada
Hawaii 8, New Mexico State 3
NMSU |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Stout ss |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Montplaisir lf |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Scaperotta lf |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
DuPree dh |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Auten 1b |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Hee ss |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Hardt dh |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Haislet cf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Leghorn c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Van Doornum rf |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Quade 3b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Macdonald 1b |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Busani rf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Catricala 3b |
5 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Lopez 2b |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Garcia 2b |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Aguirre ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Hernandez c |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Marquez 2b |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Lucero cf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Crouthamel ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Totals |
32 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
Totals |
31 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
|
NMSU |
|
100 |
002 |
000 |
-- |
3 |
5 |
2 |
Hawaii |
|
100 |
600 |
10x |
-- |
8 |
8 |
0 |
E--Stout; Marquez. DP--NMSU 1. LOB--NMSU 6; Hawaii 11. 2B--Scaperotta; Catricala. SF--DuPree. CS--Hasilet.
NMSU |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Vendette (L, 0-3) |
4 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
0 |
McFadden |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
Duran |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Joustra |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Rhodes (W, 2-4) |
5 1/3 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
Daly |
3 2/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
WP--Rhodes. HBP--by Vendette (Hernandez); by Vendette (Montplaisir); by McFadden (Hernandez). PB--Hernandez.
Umpires--Chuck Lyon (Plate); Dick Flaherty (First); John Bullock (Third).
T--2:54. A--2,467.