StarBulletin.com

Fresno State zaps Hawaii


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POSTED: Friday, May 08, 2009

FRESNO, Calif. >>

Hawaii baseball coach Mike Trapasso has seen enough. After last night's 17-9 loss to Fresno State in the opener of a four-game series, Trapasso said he was embarrassed at the job he's done coaching the Rainbows.

“;I'm completely embarrassed at the fact that I can't get our guys to pitch better, I can't get us to play better defense,”; Trapasso said. “;We're not doing what we did earlier and that's on me. I am mortified at the job I've done the last two weeks trying to get us to get out of this.”;

The pitching was probably the most embarrassing. Hawaii's hitters kept giving the pitching staff a lead, and nobody could hold it. Dating back to an April 21 game at Arizona State, the Rainbows have allowed 119 runs in their last 11 games — and that includes giving up just three in Tuesday's win at Saint Mary's. Hawaii is 3-8 over that stretch.

Dusty Robinson was the main villain yesterday, with four hits and five RBIs for Fresno State (23-25, 7-10 Western Athletic Conference). The Bulldogs piled up 16 hits and nine walks.

“;We just can't seem to win right now,”; Hawaii's Sean Montplaisir said. “;I think we just need to get back in the groove. Once we can put some wins together, we'll be right back on track.”;

Yesterday's game was one of the most frustrating of a difficult stretch for the Rainbows (27-21, 9-11). Hawaii opened the game by loading the bases on Matt Morse with nobody out. Kevin Macdonald grounded out to third on a great diving stop by Tom Mendonca to score one run, but that was all the Rainbows got. Morse got Kolten Wong to foul out to Mendonca on a great catch, then struck out Landon Hernandez to get out of the jam.

Staked to a 1-0 lead, ace Jayson Kramer allowed a tying homer to Robinson, then surrendered a run on a double, single and groundout.

No problem, said the offense. Ryan Morford's sacrifice fly and Vinnie Catricala's two-run single gave Hawaii a 4-2 lead.

Kramer couldn't stand prosperity, and walked the 8-9 hitters with one out in the bottom of the second. Danny Muno doubled in one run and Robinson doubled in two more, chasing Kramer.

The Rainbows offense gave the pitchers one more shot in the top of the fourth. Montplaisir led off the inning with a home run to left. Jeffrey Van Doornum then singled, went to second on a bunt and to third on an errant pickoff throw by Morse and then scored on a sacrifice fly. Hawaii had its final lead of the game at 6-5.

Fresno State responded with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth off Jesse Moore and Ryan Davis. Wong hit a two-run homer in the eighth and Matt Roquemore added an RBI double to cut the deficit to 14-9. Jake Johnson responded with a first-pitch, pinch-hit home run to deep center off Davis to lead off the bottom of the inning. Alan Ahmady added a two-run shot off of Davis.

“;We're hitting the ball well,”; Wong said. “;We've just got to start making pitches and we've got to play better as a team.”;

 

WAC Standings

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
 ConferenceOverall
 WLPct. GBW-L
Nevada96.600 24-22
San Jose State86.571 1/232-16
New Mexico State97.563 1/238-10
Louisiana Tech119.550 1/226-18
Hawaii911.450 2 1/227-21
Fresno State710.412 323-25
Sacramento State59.357 3 1/224-21

 

Fresno State 17, Hawaii 9

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
HawaiiABRHBIFresno St.ABRHBI
Morford 2b2112Muno 2b5232 
Garcia ss4120Robinson lf5445
Catricala 3b4022Ahmady 1b5322
Torigoe ph0000Mendonca 3b4120
Macdonald 1b5121Gowens rf5123
Wong cf4112Hedstrom cf4011 
Hernandez c4110Wise dh2000
Fuji ph1000Detwiler ph2100
Montplaisir lf4121Garrison c2212
Van Doornum dh4210Johnson ph1111
Roquemore rf3121Vivas ss4211
Totals359149Totals39171717
Hawaii1302000309141
Fresno St.23080013x17171

E—Catricala; Morse. DP—Hawaii 1; Fresno St. 1. LOB—Hawaii 6; Fresno St. 9. 2B—Garcia; Montplaisir; Roquemore; Muno 2; Robinson; Ahmady; Mendonca. HR—Wong; Montplaisir; Robinson; Ahmady; Johnson. HBP—Torigoe; Ahmady. SH—Roquemore; Hedstrom. SF—Morford. CS—Catricala; Wong.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
HawaiiIPHRERBBSO
Kramer1 1/355520
Moore (L, 0-1)224140
Davis4 2/3108831
Fresno St.IPHRERBBSO
Morse (W, 2-2)7139825Escat210012

WP—Davis. HBP—by Moore (Ahmady); by Escat (Torigoe).
Umpires— John Pollack (Plate); Scott Lakinder (First); Heath Jones (Third).
T—2:58. A—1,921.