StarBulletin.com

Van Doornum gets 'Bows back on track


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POSTED: Sunday, May 02, 2010

Perhaps Jeffrey Van Doornum thought he was still in Ruston, La., where he owned hitter-friendly J.C. Love Field last week with four home runs in four games against the Bulldogs.

Hawaii's junior designated hitter certainly hadn't had much success with the long ball in expansive Les Murakami Stadium. Just two of his eight homers for the year had come at home ... and none since the March 6 rout of Citadel.

All that changed with one monster swing yesterday. Van Doornum rocked a 1-2 fastball from Nevada reliever Tyler Graham with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for his first career walk-off home run. His shot—estimated at 400 feet—cleared both fences in left-center, landing on the roadway, and lifting the Rainbows to a dramatic 10-9 victory in the first game of a Western Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader.

In the seven-inning nightcap, Kevin Macdonald drove in the game's only run in the bottom of the second and Hawaii survived a bases-loaded situation in the seventh to edge Nevada 1-0. Matt Sisto (4-4) earned the win, with Connor Little, the fourth UH pitcher, picking up this first save.

The sweep in front of 2,423 moved Hawaii (23-21, 6-9 WAC) out of last place in the conference and into a tie for sixth with Louisiana Tech. Nevada dropped to 23-17-1 and 4-6-1.

“;This was huge for us,”; Rainbows coach Mike Trapasso said. “;We were at rock-bottom going into the ninth (in the opener) and Van Doornum picked us up.

“;In the second, I had just about conceded the tie when we got big plays. We executed, played well. (Matt) Sisto pitched well, sometimes that happens when you don't know you're going to pitch.”;

Sisto, scheduled to start today's 1 p.m. series finale, replaced Nate Klein (elbow injury) in the second. Sisto gave up four hits, two in the seventh, and left with one out.

Blair Walters, the game-win winner, walked the bases full, bringing in Little. Hawaii got a huge second out when catcher Kevin Fujii made a tough play on a foul pop-up from Garrett Yrigoyen and Little got Kamehameha graduate Waylen Sing Chow to swing at a slider to end the game.

“;Give Fujii a lot of credit, he made a lot of big stops tonight,”; Trapasso said. “;And Van Doornum ... you knew that ball was gone the minute it came off the bat.”;

In the opener, Van Doornum finished 3-for-5 with three RBI, with a run-scoring single in the third that helped the Rainbows tie it at 4-4. A two-run fifth put Nevada ahead at 6-4 and Hawaii was chasing the Pack the rest of the way, including trailing 9-5 going into its final at-bat.

Unlike a number of late-inning rallies that had come up short—most recently Friday's 8-4 loss to Nevada—the Rainbows pulled this one out. It started with Kolten Wong's one-out bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center that scored Collin Bennett, and continued with Pi'ikea Kitamura's looping single that landed just inside the first-base line in shallow right, scoring Sean Montplaisir and Matt Roquemore to close the gap to 9-8.

Four pitches later, it was over. The ball was gone before Van Doornum was halfway down to first, making a winner out of Walters (1-1). Hawaii's third reliever pitched a third of an inning, striking out the only Nevada batter he faced—Sing Chow—to end the ninth.

 

WAC STANDINGS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
 Conference Overall
 WLTPct.GBTot.
New Mexico State1221.85734-12-1
Fresno State750.583426-19
Sacramento State560.4545 1/216-23-1
Nevada461.400623-17-1
Hawaii690.4296 1/223-21
Louisiana Tech690.4296 1/221-21
San Jose State470.3636 1/216-25

Yesterday
Hawaii 10, Nevada 9
Hawaii 1, Nevada 0
Sacramento State 7, San Jose State 4
Sacramento State 12, San Jose Stte 3
New Mexico State 16, Louisiana Tech 13
New Mexico State 10, Louisiana Tech 6
Fresno State 15, Dallas Baptist 7
Today
Nevada at Hawaii, 1 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
Sacramento State at San Jose State
Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State

 

GAME 1
HAWAII 10, NEVADA 9

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
NevadaABRHBIHawaiiABRHBI
Rodland ss4000Wong 2b3211 
Moss cf4000Kitamura 3b5232 
Kort 1b5210Brackenridge pr0100 
Barnett rf5120Van Doornum dh5233 
Melino dh4223Freitas c4011 
Leid lf2110Garcia ss4022 
Sing Chow lf2110Bennett cf4100 
Kohan 2b1100Montplaisir lf3100 
Mahoney 2b0001Macdonald4000 
Yrigoyen 3b3112Roquemore rf3110 
Escobar c3021      
Mitchell ph1000
Totals349107Totals3510119

                                                                                                                                                           
Nevada0400200129103
Hawaii20201000510113

 

E—Escobar 2, Rodland. Garcia, Bennett, Macdonald. LOB—Nevada 6, Hawaii 3. 2B—Melino, Leid. HR—Melino. Van Doornum. HBP—Montplaisir. SH—Mahoney, Yrigoyen. SF—Mahoney. Wong. SB—Wong 2, Kitamura, Van Doornum. CS—Moss. Wong, Garcia.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
NevadaIPHRERBBSO
Jameson795311 
Graham L (2-4)1 2/325011
HawaiiIPHRERBBSO
Spangler4 1/386531 
Moore2 2/311113 
Linsky1 2/312212 
Walters W (1-1)1/300001

 

WP—Graham. Linsky. HBP—by Graham (Montplaisir. PB—Freitas 2.
Umpires—Jim Garman (Plate); Larry Randall (First); Tim Vessey (Third).
T—3:14.

 

GAME 2
HAWAII 1, NEVADA 0

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
NevadaABRHBIHawaiiABRHBI
Rodland ss3000Wong 2b3010 
Moss cf3000Kitamura 3b3000 
Kort 1b3010Van Doornum rf2000 
Melino dh3020Freitas dh3010 
Barnett rf3000Garcia ss1100 
Mahoney 2b2010Bennett cf2000 
Yrigoyen 3b2000Montplaisir lf2000 
Sing Chow lf3000Macdonald 1b2011 
Turay c1000Fujii c2000 
Mitchell ph1000      
Escobar c0000 
Totals24040Totals20131

                                                                                                                                                           
Nevada0000000040
Hawaii010000x130

 

DP—Nevada 1. LOB—Nevada 5. Hawaii 3. 2B—Kort. HBP—Yrigoyen. SB—Garcia, Macdonald. CS—Mahoney.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
NevadaIPHRERBBSO
Cole L (3-1)631121
HawaiiIPHRERBBSO
Klein100000 
Sisto W (4-4)5 1/340005 
Walters000010 
Little2/300001

 

HBP—by Sisto (Yrigoyen).
Umpires—Larry Randall (Plate); Tim Vessey (First); Jim Garman(Third).
T—1:52. A—2,423