Hawaii prevails in WAC slugfest
POSTED: Monday, May 24, 2010
The Hawaii and San Jose State football teams might struggle to outscore their baseball counterparts when the two teams meet later this year.
The Rainbows pounded out season highs in runs and hits, scoring six times in the top of the 11th inning to outslug the pesky Spartans 17-14 yesterday at Municipal Stadium in San Jose, Calif.
Jeff Van Doornum hit the go-ahead RBI single in the 11th and Kolten Wong finished 3-for-6 with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs as Hawaii finished with 22 hits.
The Rainbows (29-25, 12-12 Western Athletic Conference) closed the season winning eight of their final 11 league games to finish at .500 in conference play.
Hawaii will be the No. 4 seed and face Louisiana Tech on Wednesday in the opener of the WAC tournament in Mesa, Ariz.
“;With the hole we dug ourselves to start in league play and to come back playing well and have some momentum going into the tournament I thought was huge,”; UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “;I told our kids after the game to get back to .500 in league was an extremely impressive accomplishment.”;
San Jose State (21-35, 9-15), the sixth seed in the tournament, will open with third-seeded Nevada in the second game Wednesday.
Van Doornum continues his climb in UH's single-season record books with his 11th home run, becoming the eighth Rainbow to reach that mark, and fourth in the last two years.
He finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and David Freitas homered and drove in five runs.
Wong, who also scored four times, hit a two-run double in the ninth to give Hawaii an 11-9 lead.
Zack Jones answered with a two-run homer off of Alex Capaul in the bottom of the inning to send the game into extra frames. Closer Lenny Linsky, who has a WAC-leading 11 saves, was not available for the game with an injured hand.
“;Lenny spent the first half of the game getting X-rayed and is in a cast,”; Trapasso said. “;His hand really swelled up after (Corey) Valine's grounder that hit him (Saturday). He has a severe bone bruise and will get his cast taken off on Tuesday so we'll cross our fingers he can throw.”;
Freitas added a two-run single, Collin Bennett hit an RBI single and Matt Roquemore walked in a run during UH's six-run 11th.
Harrison Kuroda (1-1), the sixth pitcher UH used in the game, allowed a three-run homer to Danny Stienstra in the bottom of the 11th. Tim Quiery came to bat as the tying run with two outs, but grounded out to first to end the game after 4 hours, 11 minutes.
After going the opening 44 games playing nine innings or less, Hawaii won its third extra-inning game in the last 10 days.
Connor Little got the start for UH and was its only effective pitcher, allowing two runs on five hits in five innings. Blair Walters was shelled for four runs in an inning, Zach Gallagher allowed three runs in 2/3 innings and Capaul gave up the tying home run in the ninth after Hawaii had taken a two-run lead.
“;Honestly, if we weren't gearing up for the tournament, I could have sent Connor out there for seven or eight innings because he was really pitching well,”; Trapasso said. “;We took him out at 58 pitches and with the way he was throwing, he might have thrown a complete game if he went 100.”;
Sean Montplaisir chipped in a season-high four hits and Bennett and Pi'ikea Kitamura each had two hits and drove in a run.
Trapasso said senior Christian Johnson, who injured his shoulder at LaTech, has been cleared to swing and will replace senior Nate Klein on the traveling roster. Klein is still bothered by an injury to his throwing elbow.
FINAL WAC BASEBALL STANDINGS
| W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Tot. | |
| Fresno State | 16 | 8 | 0 | .667 | — | 35-23 |
| New Mexico State | 14 | 9 | 1 | .604 | 1 1/2 | 36-21-1 |
| Nevada | 14 | 9 | 1 | .604 | 1 1/2 | 34-20-1 |
| Hawaii | 12 | 12 | 0 | .500 | 4 | 29-25 |
| Louisiana Tech | 11 | 13 | 0 | .458 | 5 | 27-28 |
| San Jose State | 9 | 15 | 0 | .375 | 7 | 21-35 |
| Sacramento State | 7 | 17 | 0 | .292 | 9 | 18-35-1 |
Yesterday
Hawaii 17, San Jose State 14 (11 innings)
Fresno State 8, Sacramento State 4
Nevada 10, Louisiana Tech 5
HAWAII 17, SAN JOSE STATE 14
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | San Jose St | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Wong 2b | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Martin cf | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Kitamura 3b | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Quiery lf | 7 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| Van Doornum dh | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Klauer 2b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Freitas c | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | Valine c | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Garcia ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Hertler pr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bennett cf | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Rahler c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Macdonald 1b | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | Bona ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Montplaisir lf | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | Jones dh | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Koissian rf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Stienstra 1b | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | |
| Roquemore ph | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Sofranac rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Gale rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Jenkins ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Borg 3b | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||||||
| Reiling ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Canez ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|||||
| Totals | 50 | 17 | 22 | 17 | Totals | 50 | 14 | 20 | 14 |
| Hawaii | 121 | 013 | 102 | 06 | — | 17 | 22 | 1 |
| San Jose State | 001 | 012 | 502 | 03 | — | 14 | 20 | 2 |
E—Freitas; Valine, Russo. DP—SJSU 2. LOB—Hawaii 14. SJSU 9. 2B—Wong 2, Bennett, Freitas, Macdonald, Montplaisir; Borg, Jones, Ka, Klauer, Valine. 3B—Stienstra. HR—Freitas, Van Doornum, Wong; Jones, Steinstra. SH—Freitas, Roquemore, Reling. SF—Garcia, Roquemore; Ka, Klauer, Sofranac. CS—Montplaisir. Reached on CI—Garcia.
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Little | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| Walters | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Gallagher | 2/3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Capaul | 1 2/3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Moore | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Kuroda (W, 1-1) | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Mazzanti | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Bradshaw | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Hennessey | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Russo | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Jones | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Broussard (L, 1-2) | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
WP—Broussard, Hennessey. CI—Valine. Umpires—Kelly Gonzales (Plate); Tony Norris (First); Steve Fritzoni (Third). T—4:11. A—557.
