LaTech takes third straight at Murakami
POSTED: Sunday, May 03, 2009
Just 48 hours after sharing the league lead, Hawaii's regular-season Western Athletic Conference title hopes are a distant memory.
Devon Dageford finished a single shy of a cycle and Alex Williams homered and drove in two runs as Hawaii left 11 runners on base in an 8-4 loss to Louisiana Tech last night before a sold-out Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 3,459.
“;I'm disappointed if we don't play well in front of 5,000 (fans) or five,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;We had great crowds and we sent them home without our best effort on the mound and that's disappointing.”;
The Rainbows (26-19, 9-9) lost their fourth straight to fall 2 1/2 games behind Nevada for the league lead, but are five back in the loss column. Nevada, which owns the tiebreaker against Hawaii, swept Fresno State in yesterday's doubleheader. The Wolf Pack would have to play less than .500 ball and the Rainbows would have to win today and sweep the Bulldogs in Fresno, Calif., next week just to have a chance.
Hawaii would also have to leapfrog three other teams, including LaTech (25-18, 10-9), which moved ahead of Hawaii for fourth place with its fifth straight win.
Runs have been tough to come by for opponents at Les Murakami Stadium all season, but the Bulldogs made it look easy for the second straight night. UH starter Nate Klein (1-3) took the loss, allowing eight runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings as UH gave up more than five runs for the second straight night after holding opponents to five runs or fewer in its first 25 home games.
“;We're not going to win a lot of games scoring four runs, but we've won games scoring four runs,”; Trapasso said. “;It starts with the guys on the mound not getting the job done.
“;That's my area, so I'm doing a pretty poor job of coaching up our pitchers right now.”;
Things began to unravel for Klein and the Rainbows in the fourth when Dageford hit the first of two monster solo home runs by LaTech in the inning to put the Bulldogs up 3-2.
Kevin Macdonald hit his 12th home run of the season, tying him with John Matias for third-most in school history, in the bottom of the inning to tie the game for the third time.
There weren't any more ties or lead changes, however, as the Bulldogs exploded for five runs in the fifth. Dageford ended Klein's day with a two-run triple, the fourth consecutive hit by Louisiana Tech, with one out and Chris Kersten's RBI double off reliever Jesse Moore gave the Bulldogs an 8-3 lead.
“;The fifth inning killed us,”; Trapasso said.
Lousiana Tech 8, Hawaii 4
| LaTech | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Thomas lf | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | Morford 2b | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Grunenwald cf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Garcia ss | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Winn 2b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Catricala 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dageford rf | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Macdonald 1b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Kersten ss | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Wong cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Williams 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Hernandez c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Stubbs pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Torigoe dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mire 1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Montplaisir lf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Threlkeld 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Roquemore rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bradshaw dh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Roliard ph/dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| Ewing c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 39 | 8 | 14 | 8 | Totals | 33 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| LaTech | 010 | 250 | 000 | — | 8 | 14 | 2 |
| Hawaii | 011 | 100 | 100 | — | 4 | 8 | 0 |
E—Threlkeld; Jefferson. DP—LaTech 1. LOB—LaTech 6; Hawaii 11. 2B—Dageford; Kersten; Morford. 3b—Dageford; Kersten. HR—Dageford; Williams; Macdonald. SF—Hernandez. SB—Thomas; Wong. CS—Stubbs.
| LaTech | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||||
| Anderson (W, 6-2) | 5 2/3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | Jefferson | 2/3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Meyers | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Roliard (S, 1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||||
| Klein (L, 1-3) | 4 1/3 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4 | |||||||
| Moore | 4 2/3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
WP—Anderson 2; Moore. HBP—by Moore(Williams); by Anderson (Hernandez); by Anderson (Montplaisir).
Umpires—John Bullock (Plate); Kenneth Durham (First); Ken Eldridge (Third).
T—3:08. A—3,459.
WAC Standings
| Conference | Overall | |||||
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L | ||
| Nevada | 9 | 4 | .692 | — | 24-20 | |
| New Mexico State | 9 | 7 | .563 | 1 1/2 | 37-10 | |
| San Jose State | 7 | 6 | .538 | 2 | 31-15 | |
| Louisiana Tech | 10 | 9 | .526 | 2 | 25-18 | |
| Hawaii | 9 | 9 | .500 | 2 1/2 | 26-19 | |
| Sacramento State | 5 | 8 | .385 | 4 | 24-20 | |
| Fresno State | 4 | 10 | .286 | 5 1/2 | 20-25 |
Yesterday
Louisiana Tech 8, Hawaii 4
Nevada 15, Fresno State 11
Nevada 16, Fresno State 4, 8 inn.
Sacramento State 11, San Jose State 6
Sacramento State vs. San Jose State, PPD, rain
New Mexico State 20, Houston Baptist 10
New Mexico State 19, Houston Baptist 9
Today
Louisiana Tech at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m.
San Jose State at Sacramento State (2)
Nevada at Fresno State (2)
Houston Baptist at New Mexico State
