Saturday, May 1, 1999
Bergman goes
distance to lead UH
to road win
The once road-impaired
By Cindy Luis
'Bows earn their sixth straight
victory away from Rainbow Stadium,
a 6-5 win over the Utah Utes
Star-BulletinSALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Franklin Covey Field is considered the finest ballpark in the minor leagues. It's home to the Buzz, this city's Triple-A baseball club.
Dusty Bergman fell in love with the place when he was in high school. He and his friends would drive over from their hometown of Carson City, Nev., for a taste of the big leagues.
Yesterday, Bergman's visit to the 12,000-seat diamond was especially satisfying. The junior left-hander struck out a career-high nine batters for his first complete game of the season as the University of Hawaii held on to beat Utah, 6-5.
The Rainbows (30-17, 10-13 WAC) can complete their first-ever sweep of the Utes (18-23, 6-15) in today's 8 a.m. HST finale. Hawaii, winning its sixth consecutive road game, remains in contention for a WAC Tournament berth heading into next week's critical series at San Diego State.
"I've always loved this place, but I never expected to be playing here, at least not while I was in college," said Bergman (2-3). "The mound's just the way I like it.
"After the eighth inning, the coaches asked me if I could go the ninth. I told them this was my game and I wanted to finish it."
With the Rainbows leading, 6-5, Bergman struck out the first two Utes he faced in the bottom of the ninth. His full-count fastball to Adam Castleton was ripped up the middle for a single, Utah's 10th hit of the game.
Pinch-runner T.R. Gourley scampered to second on a passed ball, putting the tying run in scoring position with the Utes' top batter, Eric Wallace, at the plate. The Utah center fielder jumped on an 0-2 pitch, and it looked like his flare could fall in for a hit, but Hawaii second baseman Michael Dartt made an over-the-shoulder catch as he ran into shallow right field to preserve the win.
"I thought I had him with a pitch on the outside corner, but he got a piece of it," Bergman said of Wallace. "I just hoped it would get caught."
"That was a good catch, no question," said Rainbow coach Les Murakami.
"With their backs against the wall, this team has been playing hard. I think the cold weather helps keep them awake."
A sparse crowd of 56 braved the chilly conditions. Bergman said he felt the cold made the team sharper.
Two pitches bit Bergman back, both resulting in Utah home runs. The first was a solo shot to left by Jamie Hardy on the first pitch of the second inning; the second was a hanging curve that Mike Goff lofted 390 feet to left-center that tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth.
Hawaii played short ball to perfection, scoring single runs in the fifth, seventh and eight. The Rainbows had chances to break the game open but hit into inning-ending double plays in all three of those innings.
Utah made things interesting, scoring two in the eighth on Jared Larsen's pinch-hit single, to close to 6-5.
"Dusty hasn't finished a game for us in I don't know how long," said Murakami. "We asked if he wanted to come out and he said he wanted to finish. It's the first time in a long time he's really wanted it."
Murakami said if Bergman couldn't continue, his thought was to use shortstop Corey Miller, who has pitched four innings this season.
Yesterday's scheduled starter,
Randon Ho, came down with a migraine headache Thursday night and backup Wakon Childers bruised the elbow of his pitching arm when he hit it on a hotel room bed stand while asleep Thursday night.
"Strange injuries keep happening to this team," said Murakami. "But all in all we've played pretty well on this trip. Today, we played well enough to win."
First baseman Jamie Aloy, today's scheduled starter, went 4-for-5 yesterday and scored Rah-Miel Mitchell for what proved to be the winning run with a single in the eighth.
Both of Mitchell's hits were doubles.
Also yesterday, Sean Takamori stole his 30th base of the season. He is only the 13th Rainbow player to reach that mark.
The Utes were led by Ryan Johnerson and Wallace, both of whom went 2-for-4. Utah has scored 13 runs in two games against Hawaii, nine of those runs coming on home runs.
HAWAII 6, UTAH 5
Hawaii AB R H BI Utah AB R H BI Takamori rf 3 0 0 0 Hilts dh 3 0 0 0 Dartt 2b 5 1 1 0 Weese dh 2 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 5 1 4 1 Castleton 2b/pr 5 0 1 0 Martines lf 4 1 0 0 Gourley pr 0 0 0 0 Nakano dh 5 0 2 1 Wallace cf 4 1 2 0 Nogawa 3b 4 0 1 1 Chrisman rf 3 0 1 0 Wakakuwa c 5 1 0 0 Johnerson 1b 4 2 2 0 Miller ss 4 1 1 0 Hardy lf 4 1 1 1 Mitchell cf 4 1 2 1 Hawes c 2 0 0 0 Larsen c 1 0 1 2 Goff 3b 4 1 1 2 Stuart ss 4 0 1 0 Totals 39 6 11 4 Totals 36 5 10 5 Hawaii 110 110 110--6 11 1 Utah 010 200 020--5 10 5E--Bergman, Castleton, Chrisman, Johnerson, Hawes, Goff. DP--Hawaii 1, Utah 2. LOB--Hawaii 10, Utah 7.2B--Aloy (15), Nakano (9), Mitchell 2 (4), Wallace (14). 3B--Miller (3). HR--Hardy (2), Goff (4). SB--Takamori (30).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bergman (W, 2-3) 9 10 5 4 3 9 Utah IP H R ER BB SO McDermaid (L, 2-5) 6 9 5 3 1 2 Bailey 3 2 1 1 1 1Mcdermaid faced one batter in the 7th.WP--Bergman (6), McDermaid (4). PB--Wakakuwa (3), Hawes (3). HBP--Takamori by McDermaid and Bailey.
Umpires--Leonard (plate), Jensen (first), Bailey (third). A--56. T--2:45.
WAC
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. x-Rice 22 3 .880 -- 45 9 .833 x-Texas Christ 17 7 .708 4-1/2 26 21 .553 Nevada-LV 13 9 .591 7-1/2 24 27 .471 San Jose St. 11 10 .524 9 21 23 .478 New Mexico 12 12 .500 9-1/2 26 24 .520 San Diego St. 11 11 .500 9-1/2 24 26 .480 Fresno St. 11 12 .478 10 29 26 .527 Hawaii 10 13 .435 11 30 17 .638 Brigham Young 7 15 .318 13-1/2 20 29 .408 Utah 6 15 .286 14 18 24 .429 Air Force 3 16 .158 16 17 28 .378x-Qualified for WAC tournament.New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.
Yesterday's results
Hawaii 6, Utah 5
Fresno State 7, Brigham Young 2
New Mexico 14, Cal State Northridge 4
Rice 6, Texas Christian 1
San Diego State 12, Nevada-Las Vegas 10
San Jose State at Air Force, ppd., rainToday's games
Hawaii at Utah, 8 a.m.
Brigham Young at Fresno State
Cal State Northridge at New Mexico
San Diego State at Nevada-Las Vegas
San Jose State at Air Force (2)
Texas Christian at Rice (2)Tomorrow's games
Cal State Northridge at New Mexico
San Diego State at Nevada-Las Vegas
San Jose State at Air Force
