StarBulletin.com

UH's Little, Linsky shut down Centenary


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POSTED: Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Lenny Linsky pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning to earn his eighth save and the Hawaii baseball team defeated Centenary 5-2 yesterday at Shehee Stadium in Shreveport, La.

Connor Little (1-0) threw four perfect innings of relief to earn his first win of the season and the Rainbows (19-18) won for just the third time in their last nine games.

“;We were better, that's for sure,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;We still had more opportunities offensively where we just didn't execute. We should have scored two or three more runs than we did.”;

Kolten Wong was the only Rainbow with two hits and Pi'ikea Kitamura and David Freitas drove in two runs apiece.

Jesse Moore went 1-for-3 with two walks in his first start at shortstop. Junior Greg Garcia missed his first game of the season and may not play in the opener of a series at Louisiana Tech beginning tomorrow as he struggles to bounce back from injuring his back on Sunday.

“;He's still pretty tender,”; Trapasso said. “;The improvement is slow, so we'll see. I hope he's back, obviously, but like I told our guys after the game, what it's all about is a guy like Jesse Moore.

“;He waits around for his opportunity and when he gets it, he played with savvy, he played good defense, got a bunt base hit and really played well.”;

With Christian Johnson out for the foreseeable future, Jeff Van Doornum got the start in right field. That allowed Freitas to hit in the designated hitter spot with Kevin Fujii starting at catcher.

“;(Sean) Montplaisir could have played today, but Van Doornum's shoulder is good enough now where he can play right field,”; Trapasso said. “;In games like tonight with Fujii starting at catcher, it allowed us to move Freitas into the DH spot and keeps him and Van Doornum in the lineup, which is big because they are two of our four or five best hitters.”;

Freitas drove in Chase Koissian with a single in the first inning and added his second RBI on a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Van Doornum added an RBI single in the inning to score Wong and give UH a 5-1 lead.

After Alex Capaul gave up a run in the second inning, Little and Matt Sisto combined to hold the Gents (17-15) scoreless until the ninth inning.

Harrison Kuroda allowed three straight singles to start the inning and a sacrifice fly cut the lead to three. Linsky came in for Kuroda and walked a batter to load the bases before inducing a game-ending double-play ball by Jeff Schaffert.

The Rainbows head to Ruston, La., in preparation of a four-game set with Louisiana Tech (19-16, 4-4 Western Athletic Conference). Hawaii, which is 2-6 in league play, is a game behind San Jose State in last place in the WAC and will be at the halfway point of the conference season after its series with the Bulldogs.

Josh Slaats (3-2, 1.97 ERA) and Sam Spangler (2-5, 3.99) will start the first two games of the series. Everything is up in the air after that, but yesterday's performance from Little, who has been used sparingly this season, could be enough to get him into the mix this weekend.

“;Little was outstanding,”; Trapasso said. “;That's the best that he's thrown, not only this year, but all of last year as well. That was a really good sign how well he's coming along.”;

WAC: Trapasso violates code

Trapasso was reprimanded by the Western Athletic Conference yesterday for violating the league's sportsmanship code.

Trapasso publicly criticized the umpires following Friday's game against Sacramento State.

“;Coach Trapasso's comments criticizing the officials clearly violated the WAC sportsmanship code and will not be tolerated,”; commissioner Karl Benson said in a press release. “;Any further violations of the code may result in added disciplinary action.”;

 

WAC BASEBALL STANDINGS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 WLTPct.GBOverall
Sacramento St.310.7501/214-18-1
New Mexico St.521.68827-12-1
Fresno State530.6251/222-16
Louisiana Tech440.5001 1/219-16
Nevada121.375220-13-1
San Jose State350.3752 1/214-21
Hawaii260.2503 1/219-18

 

Yesterday

Hawaii 5, Centenary 2

UC Davis at Nevada, ppd., weather

Sacramento State at Saint Mary's, ppd., weather

 

HAWAII 5, CENTENARY 2

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Hawaii ABRHBICentenaryABRHBI
Koissian rf4110Acker 2b3000
Moore ss3110Pasket 3b3000
Wong 2b5120Shepard rf4110
Freitas dh3012Tompkins p4010
Van Doornum dh3011McGee pr0000
Bennett cf4110Todd ss4010
Macdonald 1b4000Ericson 1b3111
Fujii c4100Bell cf3010
Kitamura 3b4012Mansfield ph0000
     Kraft pr0000
     Schaffert c4010
     Perez lf2001
Totals34585Totals30262
HAWAII    110 001   200581
CENTENARY    010   000   001264

 

E—Capaul; Acker 2, Bell, Ericson. DP—Hawaii 2; Centenary 4. LOB—Hawaii 8; Centenary 6. HBP—Van Doornum. SF—Freitas; Ericson, Perez. SB—Van Doornum.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
HawaiiIPHRERBBSO
Capaul221020
Little (W, 1-0)400004
Sisto210002
Kuroda1/331100
Linsky (S, 8)2/300010
CentenaryIPHRERBBSO
Tompkins (L, 1-3)675432
Dalzell110000
Robinson100000
Hoyt100010 

 

WP—Tompkins 2, Hoyt. HBP—by Tompkins (Van Doornum). BK—Tompkins. PB—Fujii.

T—2:15. A—131.