Saturday, May 8, 1999
’Bows finally
fall on road—
6-4 to Aztecs
The loss drops Hawaii back
Staff & wire reports
to eighth place in the WAC as the
Rainbows try to qualify
for the playoffsSAN DIEGO -- Hawaii's mainland winning streak ended at eight last night when the Rainbows failed to convert enough opportunities against Aaron Harang, the ace of the San Diego State staff.
Harang surrendered 10 hits and plunked two batters, but fanned nine and walked one in winning his sixth consecutive game.
The Aztecs' 6-4 victory evened the Western Athletic Conference baseball series at a game apiece. The winner of today's game will have the upper hand in a tiebreaker should one be needed at the end of the regular season next week.
Harang, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound right-hander, breezed through the first two innings retiring six consecutive Rainbows.
SDSU scratched out single runs in the first two innings to grab the early lead. But UH tied the game in the third on Jamie Aloy's two run single.
The Aztecs (27-28 overall, 14-12 WAC) took the lead for good in the fourth when Matt Ricardy reached on a two-base error charged to left fielder Scooter Martines, who bumped into center fielder Rah-Miel Mitchell trying to catch Ricardy's fly ball.
After Michael Dartt's sacrifice fly scored Miller to cut the UH deficit to 4-3 in the top of the fifth, a two-out single by Edgar Gonzalez and Sean Pierce's double brought in another SDSU run in the bottom of the inning.
UH starter Dusty Bergman was fairly successful keeping his pitches down except for a brief period in the sixth. Ricardy opened with a double and scored on Paul Lockhart's booming triple to center. Lockhart then scored on a wild pitch.
Otherwise, Bergman, who walked one and fanned one, recorded 17 ground ball outs in seven innings of work. In fact, Aloy had 19 putouts at first base, one short of the UH single game record.
Matt Wheeler, who pitched the eighth, got two more ground ball outs and a strikeout.
The Rainbows (33-18, 12-14) went in order in the fourth, but had men on base in every inning the remainder of the game.
They put two men on in the sixth and didn't score. Miller singled to start the seventh, but Sean Takamori hit a line drive that Harang speared and turned into a double play.
Dartt, Aloy and Martines singled to start the eighth inning, producing Hawaii's final run. But Harang, after a visit from SDSU pitching coach Rusty Filter, once again proved equal to the task.
Tracy Nakano popped up a bunt attempt for the first out. Lane Nogawa struck out for the third time and Wakakuwa lined a ball into right-center field, but SDSU center field Billy Montgomery was shading that way and made the catch.
Against SDSU closer A.J. Samadani in the ninth, Miller walked and Takamori moved him to second with a one-out single. But Samadani induced Dartt to hit into a force play at second and then fanned Aloy.
The loss drops Hawaii into eight place in the WAC standings, a half game behind New Mexico and Fresno State, who are tied for sixth, the final spot earning a berth in the league's postseason tournament.
Nakano extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the sixth.
San Diego State 6, Hawaii 4
Hawaii AB R H BI San Diego St. AB R H BI Takamori rf 4 0 1 0 Montgomery cf 4 1 1 0 Dartt 2b 3 1 1 1 Pierce lf 3 1 2 0 Aloy 1b 5 0 2 2 Gonzalez ss 4 0 1 1 Martines lf 4 0 2 1 Echelbarger dh 3 0 0 1 Nakano dh 4 0 1 0 Ricardy 3b 4 2 1 0 Nogawa 3b 4 0 0 0 Rogers c 3 0 0 0 Wakakuwa c 4 1 1 0 Lockhart rf 4 2 2 2 Miller ss 3 2 3 0 Leuthardt 1b 3 0 1 0 Mitchell cf 3 0 0 0 Chop 1b 0 0 0 0 Taguchi ph 1 0 0 0 Ramos 2b 3 0 1 1 Totals 35 4 11 4 31 6 9 5 Hawaii 002 010 010--4 11 1 San Diego State 110 112 00x--6 9 0E--Martines (4). DP--Hawaii 1, San Diego St. 1. LOB--Hawaii 8, San Diego St. 4.2B--Miller (4), Gonzalez (9), Ricardy (8). 3B--Lockhart (1). SB--Pierce (8). CS--Martines (2). SH--Rogers (3). SF--Dartt (3), Echelbarger (3).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bergman (L, 2-4) 7 9 6 5 1 1 Wheeler 1 0 0 0 0 1 San Diego State IP H R ER BB SO Harang (W, 8-3) 8 10 4 4 0 9 Samadani 1 1 0 0 1 2WP--Bergman (7). HBP--Dartt and Takamori (by Harang).Umpires: Lopez (Plate), Galbreath (First), Gilmore (Third). A--588. T--2:33.
WAC
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. xy-Rice 23 4 .852 -- 46 10 .821 x-Texas Christ 19 8 .704 4 29 22 .569 Nevada-LV 14 11 .560 8 25 29 .463 San Diego St. 14 12 .538 8-1/2 27 28 .491 San Jose St. 11 11 .500 9-1/2 22 24 .479 New Mexico 12 13 .480 10 27 26 .509 Fresno St. 12 13 .480 10 31 27 .534 Hawaii 12 14 .462 10-1/2 33 18 .647 Brigham Young 9 15 .375 12-1/2 23 29 .442 Utah 6 17 .261 15 18 27 .400 Air Force 3 17 .150 16-1/2 17 29 .370x-Qualified for WAC tournament.y-Clinched regular-season title.
New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.
Yesterday's results
San Diego State 6, Hawaii 4
Brigham Young 16, Air Force 13
Fresno State 14, Utah 6
Nevada-Las Vegas 8, New Mexico 4
Texas Christian 14, San Jose State 1Today's games
Hawaii at San Diego State, 11 a.m.
Air Force at Brigham Young (2)
Fresno State at Utah
Nevada-Las Vegas at New Mexico
San Jose State at Texas ChristianTomorrow's games
Fresno State at Utah
Nevada-Las Vegas at New Mexico
San Jose State at Texas Christian
