'Bows' bad luck continues
POSTED: Saturday, May 09, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. » At some point, the breaks have to change for the Hawaii baseball team. Right? Right?
Maybe not. Last night, the Rainbows jumped to a big early lead, then watched Fresno State rally back for a 14-11 victory. The Bulldogs' rallies included several bombs—the teams combined for seven homers for the night—but also flairs and bloops and balls that seemingly should have been caught, yet fell in.
The game-winning hit was one of those. Gavin Hedstrom lifted a pop fly into center field that somehow fell in for a two-run double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth. Another run scored on a wild pitch by Sam Spangler.
“;We could not have anything else go against us,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;Their big inning in the (sixth), when we lose the ball in the twilight, that's when I said, 'There is nothing else that can go wrong. We've pretty much covered the gamut.'
“;Of course, I was wrong. Because we make a great pitch with bases loaded, two outs, and a flair just falls in there in no-man's land.”;
That's what happens when it's going bad. The Rainbows lost their seventh consecutive WAC game and ninth out of their last 12 to fall to 27-22, 9-12. They also may be without catcher Landon Hernandez, who reinjured his wrist and could be lost for the season.
Early on, it looked like Hawaii would be busting out of its slump. The Rainbows took a 7-0 lead, thanks to home runs by Sean Montplaisir and Kolten Wong, and a three-run double by Kevin Fujii.
Even better, Matt Sisto looked strong in the first two innings, allowing just one hit—a double that was actually a chopper to shortstop that bounced over the head of Greg Garcia.
But things changed quickly in the bottom of the third. Dusty Robinson hit a three-run home run off of the non-functioning video board in left field to get Fresno State (24-25, 8-10) on the board, as it were. Alan Ahmady then was caught looking on a curve, a call that led to the ejection of Bulldogs coach Mike Batesole by home plate umpire Scott Lakinder.
“;He just was walking out and the umpire threw him,”; said Tom Mendonca, the on-deck hitter at the time.
Mendonca, the all-time home run leader at Fresno State, said he got fired up by the ejection. He promptly hit a bomb over the scoreboard in left for career homer No. 50. Brennan Gowens followed with a shot to center, and suddenly, it was 7-5.
Hawaii was up 9-7 in the sixth when the Bulldogs put up four runs to take the lead. Kevin Macdonald blasted a two-run homer to left in the top of the eighth to tie the score at 11-11. Then came the pop fly.
Macdonald tried to stay positive.
“;I think we're playing all right,”; he said. “;We're not playing bad. We just can't find a way to win. Eventually we'll turn it around and hopefully we get it going here these next two games. We get on a winning streak and take it into the WAC tournament and hopefully take that at home.”;
WAC Standings
| Conference | Overall | |||||
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L | ||
| San Jose State | 9 | 6 | .600 | — | 33-16 | |
| Nevada | 9 | 7 | .562 | 1/2 | 24-23 | |
| New Mexico State | 9 | 8 | .562 | 1 | 38-11 | |
| Louisiana Tech | 11 | 9 | .550 | 1/2 | 26-18 | |
| Fresno State | 8 | 10 | .444 | 2 1/2 | 24-25 | |
| Hawaii | 9 | 12 | .428 | 3 | 27-22 | |
| Sacramento State | 6 | 9 | .400 | 3 | 24-21 |
Yesterday
Fresno State 14, Hawaii 11
Sacramento State 14, Nevada 13
San Jose State 24, New Mexico State 5
Fresno State 14, Hawaii 11
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | Fresno St. | AB | R | H | BI |
| Morford 2b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Muno 2b | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Garcia ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Robinson lf | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Catricala 3b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Ahmady 1b | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Macdonald 1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mendonca 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Wong cf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Gowens rf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Montplaisir lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Hedstrom cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Johnson dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Wise dh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roquemore rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Algrove ph | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chevalier ph | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Johnson ph | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Fuji c | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Garrison c | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Vivas ss | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Totals | 43 | 11 | 18 | 11 | Totals | 38 | 14 | 15 | 13 |
| Hawaii | 034 | 101 | 020 | — | 11 | 18 | 1 | ||
| Fresno St. | 005 | 024 | 03x | — | 14 | 15 | 1 |
E—Catricala; Ahmady. DP—Fresno St. 3. LOB—Hawaii 8; Fresno St. 5. 2B—Catricala; Montplaisir; Fujii; Hedstrom; Garrison. HR—Catricala; Macdonald; Wong; Johnson; Robinson; Mendonca; Gowens. SF—Gowens; Detwiler. SB—Garcia; Vivas.
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Sisto | 5 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Slaats | 1/3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Spangler (L, 5-2) | 2 2/3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Fresno St. | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Benny | 5 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Bischoff | 2 1/3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Poytress (W, 2-2) | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sprague (S, 2) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
WP—Spangler; Benny.
Umpires—Scott Lakinder (Plate); Heath Jones(First); John Pollack (Third).
T—2:50. A—N/A.
