Macdonald rescues Rainbows in ninth

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Hawaii's final WAC regular-season home game ended in stunning fashion, as Kevin Macdonald's two-out, two-run single scored Greg Garcia and Jon Hee with the winning runs in an 8-7 comeback victory yesterday over Sacramento State at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hawaii    Sac. State 8 7 NEXT UP At New Mexico State on Thursday

Ryan Asato hit the first home run of his career and Jeff Van Doornum had a two-run double as the Rainbows took three of four games against the Hornets.

The Rainbows clawed back from a 5-2 deficit with three runs in the seventh to tie the game at 5. Sacramento State moved back in front with two in the eighth before the Rainbows closed it out with a three-spot in the ninth.

Sacramento State outhit the 'Bows 14-11, but didn't have an extra-base hit.

The Rainbows close out WAC play with a four-game series at New Mexico State beginning Thursday. Hawaii (24-25, 16-12) trails Nevada by one and league-leading Fresno State by two with four conference games remaining.

The Rainbows wrap up the regular season with a nonconference series at home against Utah Valley State on May 15-17. The WAC tournament begins May 22 in Ruston, La.

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After learning its lesson the hard way, the Hawaii baseball team found itself on the right end of a ninth-inning comeback.

Kevin Macdonald singled in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as Hawaii rallied to stun Sacramento State 8-7 yesterday in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,295.

A week after blowing a six-run lead in the ninth against Louisiana Tech to snap a streak of three consecutive series wins, the Rainbows seemed poised for another split until Macdonald's walk-off heroics.

"I got a pitch I thought I could handle and didn't really hit it good, but it fell in and we won," Macdonald said. "It's good we got the series. If we lost the second two, it would have been a disappointment."

Macdonald was hit by the first pitch in the at-bat, but plate umpire Kevin Sweeney ruled that he leaned into it and didn't allow him to take first base. Instead of tying the game at 7, Macdonald refocused and bounced a 2-1 pitch through the hole between first and second, scoring Greg Garcia and Jon Hee to end the game.

"It has to be pretty obvious to have (the umpire) keep you at home," Macdonald said of being hit by the pitch. "I disagreed, but I knew that I had to change my mind-set and make something happen."

The win kept the Rainbows (24-25, 16-12 WAC) within two games of league-leading Fresno State. They took the series 3-1 against the Hornets (20-27, 11-12) and are 15-6 since April 1.

"It was an ugly game, but you've got to be able to win ugly games like that," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We didn't make pitches and didn't execute like we have to do to win, but sometimes you overcome those things."

The Rainbows entered the game in the top 10 nationally in fielding, but committed two errors in the first inning that allowed the Hornets to score three runs.

Jeff Van Doornum hit a two-run double in the bottom of the first for the Rainbows, who only managed three hits in the first five innings off of Hornets starter Corey Weglin.

Weglin took a 5-2 lead into the sixth when senior Ryan Asato drove a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right field for a two-run homer, the first in his four-year career.

"He was saying all day (he's) only got eight games left in (his) career (to hit one)," Van Doornum said. "He wanted to go out there and hit a bomb and look for that mistake pitch and he said he got it."

Hee beat out a potential inning-ending double play by a fraction of a second to allow Matt Roquemore to score on a fielder's choice to tie the game at 5.

Ryan Blair answered by singling in the go-ahead run in the eighth and Sam Spangler hit Tim Wheeler with a pitch with the bases loaded to put the Hornets back up by two.

Hornets closer Jeff Roth pitched for the third game in a row and stayed in for the ninth inning after entering in the seventh. Landon Hernandez beat out an infield single to start the ninth and pinch runner Kevin Fujii scored on a one-out single by Garcia to pull within a run. Brandon Haislet flied out with two men on base and Van Doornum worked a walk before Macdonald's single ended it.

Senior Cory Kahn pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win and improve to 3-2.