StarBulletin.com

No. 20 Hawaii sits alone in first


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POSTED: Saturday, April 25, 2009

No. 20 Hawaii took over sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference by hanging on to defeat New Mexico State 12-10 yesterday at Presley Askew Field in Las Cruces, N.M.

Sean Montplaisir went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs and Kevin Macdonald and Vinnie Catricala hit big homers late as the Rainbows (25-14, 8-4) needed every last run against a stubborn Aggies squad.

“;Our guys knew that coming in that it didn't matter how many runs we were scoring, runs are going to be scored in this ballpark,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;(NMSU) is legit. I'm very impressed with them, and yet at the same time I'm so proud of our kids for battling, because we won that game on grit and toughness.”;

Macdonald's solo home run in the eighth inning, his team-leading ninth of the season, put Hawaii up 9-7, but the Aggies answered with a run in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to one run.

Then in the ninth, Montplaisir scored Ryan Morford on a two-out double to push Hawaii's lead to two. After a pitching change, Catricala met reliever Frankie Duran with a two-run homer to give the Rainbows a 12-8 lead.

It wound up being the decisive blow, as Wade Reynoso hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off of Sam Spangler to make it a 12-10 game. But Spangler came back to strike out the final two batters of the game to earn his fourth save.

Jayson Kramer (4-3) picked up his second consecutive win, throwing 105 pitches in six innings. He issued five walks and hit two batters, and overcame four quick Aggies runs to gut out six innings and nearly came back out to pitch the seventh despite the high pitch count.

“;I really considered it, but we were getting into the fourth time through their lineup,”; Trapasso said. “;(Kramer) was showing some body language that he hasn't shown in a while, but he snapped out of it and gutted his way through.”;

 

WAC Standings

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
 Conference    Overall
       
 WLPct. GBW-L
       
Hawaii84.667 25-14
Nevada74.636 1/219-20
San Jose State54.556 1 1/227-13
New Mexico State76.538 1 1/232-9
Louisiana Tech58.385 3 1/220-17
Sacramento State36.333 3 1/222-17
Fresno State36.333 3 1/219-20

Yesterday
Hawaii
12, New Mexico State 10
Sacramento State 8, Louisiana Tech 7
Fresno State 1, San Jose State 0
Nevada 7, Cal State Bakersfield 6

Today
Hawaii
at New Mexico State (2), 11:05 a.m.
Fresno State at San Jose State (2)
Louisiana Tech at Sacramento State
Cal State Bakersfield at Nevada

Hawaii 12, NMSU 10

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
HawaiiABRHBINMSUABRHBI
       
Garcia ss5111Farnham c/lf6120
Montplaisir lf6110Shaver rf6121
Catricala 3b6231Sodders dh6111
Macdonald 1b6121Marquez ss3320
Wong cf5212Aguirre lf5030
Hernandez c6011Perkins pr/cf2000
Johnson rf5100Harty 1b2011
Van Doornum dh4130Reynoso 3b4123
Morford 2b4032Schneider 2b5011
     Howard ph/c4010
     Lucero cf/2b4010
     Anderson ph4010
Totals43121711Totals35101410

                                                                                                                                                                           
Hawaii320102013 12171
       
NMSU130100212 10142
       

E—Montplaisir; Reynoso; Lucero. DP—Hawaii 3; NMSU 1. LOB—Hawaii 10; NMSU 9. 2B—Garcia; Montplaisir; Van Doornum; Morford 2; FARNHAM. 3B—Wong. HR—Montplaisir; Catricala; Macdonald; Reynoso. HBP—Montplaisir; Catricala; Morford; Harty; Lucero. SH - Schneider. SF—Garcia; Shaver.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
HawaiiIPHRERBBSO
       
Kramer (W, 4-3)675552 
Moore1/332211 
Spangler (S, 4)2 2/343315
NMSUIPHRERBBSO
       
Sturdevant (L, 4-4)586522 
Cooper2/332200
Coffman1 1/320003
Reyes1 2/333302
Duran1/311100 

Umpires—Jason Venzon (Plate); Patrick Riley (First); Dave Natalie (Third).

T—3:10. A—526.