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Tuesday, April 18, 2000
Acevedo delivers
for ’Dogs
His grand slam in the ninth
By Al Chase
inning powers Fresno State past
the slumping Rainbows
Star-BulletinRich Snider threw 117 pitches last night against Fresno State.
Two pitches in the ninth inning will haunt the senior right-hander and the Rainbows for some time.
The first one came with a count of one ball and two strikes on the left-hand hitting Anthony Acevedo. Snider thought his fastball was a strike. But plate umpire Joe Burleson called it a ball.
Acevedo then lined Snider's next pitch over the right-field wall for a grand slam.
That home run broke a 3-3 tie and powered the Bulldogs to a 7-4 Western Athletic Conference victory that moved FSU into a tie for first place with San Jose State.
It left the Rainbows three games out of first place and they are faced with playing nine of their last 12 games on the road.
"I thought the pitch was tailing away, but I was pretty confident it was going to be a ball," Acevedo said on the 1-2 pitch. "Otherwise I wouldn't have taken it."
Pitching coach Carl Furutani asked catcher Kenn Wakakuwa about the pitch.
"Kenny said when he caught it, the pitch was a ball (width) off (the plate). He said he was getting some (called strikes) like that and not getting some," Furutani said.
It isn't often a ball hit at Rainbow Stadium looks like a home run as soon as it leaves the bat, but Acevedo's drive did.
"It was a change, middle in. He had been getting me on that all day so I was looking for it," Acevedo said.
The Rainbows loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth twice and scored once on Jamie Aloy's RBI single, but trailing by four runs meant using their short game to rally was out of the question.
Snider had worked out of trouble in the first after Josh Labandeira's one-out triple and again in the eighth when the Bulldogs had runners at the corners.
"I asked how many pitches he had thrown after the eighth inning and his count was low (99)," said Murakami. "He was pitching good and that's why I left him in. It was hard to take him out and one run they scored shouldn't have scored."
The 18th-ranked Bulldogs took a 3-2 lead in the sixth with an unearned run. Rah-Miel Mitchell misplayed Brad Harper's single to right allowing Mike Bowlin to score.
"I don't know what Rah-Miel was doing out there. I don't need Hollywood stuff. You've got to play hard all the time," Murakami said.
Hawaii tied the score in the seventh after two were out on a walk to Matt Purtell and singles by Rory Pico and Scooter Martines.
Martines had replaced Sean Takamori, who bruised his left knee in a collision with Harper at home plate in the first inning.
"I'm satisfied with the way we played. We played hard, but didn't execute," Murakami said.
"Time is getting short. This was a must win for us, but this team has no luck."
The Bulldogs travel to the Big Island for a three-game series with the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans starting Thursday.
The Rainbows leave Wednesday night for their longest road trip of the season - the Texas swing.
They open against Rice Saturday and the Owls have played themselves back into contention for the WAC title.
After the three Rice games, UH plays three games at Texas Christian. The Horned Frogs are at San Jose State this weekend.
BULLDOGS 7, RAINBOWS 4
FRESNO STATE AB R H BI HAWAII AB R H BI Creighton 2b 5 1 1 0 Takamori rf 0 1 0 0 Labandeira dh 5 1 3 0 Martines lf 4 0 1 1 Acevedo lf 4 2 2 4 Baker cf 4 0 2 0 Gemoll 1b 5 1 1 0 Aloy 1b 5 0 3 2 Garcia 3b 5 0 1 0 Kimura dh 3 0 0 0 Bowlin rf 4 1 2 2 Jackson pr 0 0 0 0 Harper c 4 0 2 0 Bock ph 1 0 0 0 Lopez ss 4 0 1 0 Wakakuwa c 4 0 0 0 Guzman cf 2 0 0 0 Mitchell lf-rf 3 1 0 0 Papi ph 1 0 0 0 Nogawa 3b 3 1 1 0 Myers cf 1 1 0 0 Purtell 2b 2 1 0 0 Pico ss 4 0 2 0 Totals 40 7 13 6 Totals 33 4 9 3
Fresno State 000 102 004 - 7 13 1 Hawaii 110 000 101 - 4 9 2 E-Moran (1), Mitchell (1), Pico(13).
DP-FSU 2 (Creighton-Lopez-Gemoll, Lopez-Creighton-Gemoll), UH 1 (Baker-Aloy). LOB-FSU 8, UH 9.
2B-Bowlin 2 (15), Baker (4). 3B-Labandeira (2). HR-Acevedo (6).
SB-Takamori (19). CS-Baker (2).
Fresno State
IP H R ER BB SO Moran 5 4 2 1 2 2 Smith (W, 7-0) 4 5 2 2 3 4
Hawaii
IP H R ER BB SO Snider (L, 6-7) 9 13 7 6 2 4 Moran pitched to one batter in the sixth inning.
HBP-Takamori (by Moran), Purtell (by Smith).
Umpires-Burleson (plate), Pedersen (first), Montalbo (third). T-2:23. A-848.
WAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W L Pct. San Jose State 12 6 .667 26 14 .650 Fresno State 12 6 .667 30 11 .732 Rice 10 10 .500 23 19 .548 Hawaii 9 9 .500 22 22 .500 Texas Christian 8 9 .471 17 25 .405 Hawaii-Hilo 5 16 .238 14 26 .350 Yesterday's result
Fresno State 7, Hawaii 4
Today's games
Dallas Baptist at Texas Christian
Rice at Texas A&M
San Jose State at Santa Clara
Wednesday's game
Rice at Southwest Texas State
Thursday's games
Fresno State at Hawaii-Hilo, 6 p.m.
Texas Christian at San Jose State
Friday's games
Fresno State at Hawaii-Hilo, 6 p.m.
Texas Christian at San Jose State
Saturday's games
Hawaii at Rice, 9 a.m.
Fresno State vs. Hawaii-Hilo at Kona, 1 p.m.
Texas Christian at San Jose State
Sunday's game
Hawaii at Rice, 9 a.m.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
