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Saturday, February 17, 2001
UH’s wild Baseball convention frowns on trying to steal third base with a left-handed batter at the plate.
comeback haunts
Nevada
The Warriors rally to
beat Wolf Pack, 10-9By Al Chase
Star-BulletinUniversity of Hawaii assistant coach Thomas Gushiken thought otherwise with Rainbow runners at first and second. Acting head coach Carl Furutani agreed.
"It was a great idea," Furutani said. "We would put pressure on them and see what happens. If it doesn't work, we would still have a runner in scoring position."
The daring play worked, ending a game in which 10 runs were scored in the final two innings.
The Rainbows had to rally from a 8-3 deficit to claim the 10-9 Western Athletic Conference victory over the University of Nevada.
Hawaii erased most of the difference with a four-run eighth, capped by Ryan Anderson's pinch hit, two-run double.
But Curtis Wickwire, who had just four at-bats in the Wolf Pack's first 10 games, singled home Clay Belding in the top of the ninth. Wickwire was 5-for-5 with a walk and five runs batted in, three coming on his home run in the sixth.
Patrick Scalabrini, who jammed his right thumb fielding a ball in the fifth, singled to start the bottom of the ninth. Gregg Omori, who had fanned three times, also singled.
On a sacrifice bunt try, Danny Kimura pushed the ball too close to Nevada reliever George Moran, who got the force out at third.
Unfortunately, Kimura injured his right hamstring on the play. Having used all his position players, Furutani called on Jeff Coleman, Thursday's winning pitcher, to run for Kimura.
Chad Boudon walked on four pitches to load the bases.
Jacob Flick, who entered the game as a pinch runner for fellow catcher Brian Bock in the four-run UH eighth, was up next.
"On the third pitch, I got my pitch to hit. I didn't hit it that great, but they say sometimes the ball has eyes," Flick said.
Nevada second baseman Mike Gillies dove and stopped Flick's high bouncer in short right field, but Omori and Coleman scored to tie the game at 9, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.
Left-hander John Teepe came in to face UH's left-handed hitting Kevin Gilbride.
He had the take sign on the first two pitches.
While Teepe took his warmups, Gushiken told his runners, Chad Boudon at second and Flick at first, what was going to happen.
"We were going to go on the second pitch," Flick said. "We know they throw to the back runner."
With Gilbride up, Nevada first baseman Erick Streelman was not holding Flick.
"I had two feet on the carpet and had the base stolen easily," Flick said.
It didn't matter.
The throw by Wolf Pack catcher Christian Popoff sailed into center field and Boudon scored the game-winning run easily.
That helped everyone forget a horrendous fifth inning in which every UH starting infielder made an error.
Rainbows 10, Wolf Pack 9
Nevada ab r h bi Hawaii ab r h bi Nickerson lf 2 0 0 0 Guillen cf 2 0 0 1 Dickerson ph-lf 4 2 1 1 Anderson ph 1 0 1 2 Hass cf 2 1 0 0 Chan cf 0 0 0 0 Belding ph-cf 2 3 2 0 Scalbrini 3b-1b 4 0 2 1 Wickwire dh 5 2 5 5 Omori 2b 5 1 1 0 Cappuccilli c 3 0 0 2 Kimura 1b 5 0 0 0 Popoff c 0 0 0 0 Coleman pr 0 1 0 0 Rangel 3b 5 0 0 0 Boudon lf 4 2 2 0 Streelman 1b 5 0 1 1 Bock c 3 0 0 0 Laidlaw rf 5 0 3 0 Pribble ph 1 0 1 0 Gillies 2b 3 1 0 0 Flick pr-c 1 1 1 2 Maguire ss 3 0 0 0 Gilbride dh 3 2 1 0 Montgomery rf 3 2 2 1 Wilson ss 2 0 1 1 Nogawa ss 1 1 1 1 Totals 39 9 12 9 Totals 35 10 13 9
Nevada 000 024 021 -- 9 12 1 Hawaii 020 000 143 -- 10 13 5 One out when winning run scored.
E-Popoff (1), Scalabrini (1), Omori 2 (4), Kimura (2), Wilson (4).
DP-Hawaii 1 (Wilson-Omori-Kimura). LOB-Nevada 14, Hawaii 7.
2B-Dickerson (1), Belding (1), Anderson (2). HR-Wickwire (1). SB-Belding 2 (2), Scalabrini (5), Boudon 2 (6), Flick (1), Gilbride (1). S-Maguire (5), Popoff (2), Gillies (1), Guillen (1). SF-Guillen (1).
ip h r er bb so Nevada Rasner 6 1/3 6 3 3 3 7 Holcomb 1 2/3 6 6 6 1 2 Moran (L, 0-1) 1/3 1 1 0 1 0 Teepe 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hawaii Yamashita 5 1/3 4 4 1 4 7 Le Ducq 0 2 2 2 1 0 Garrick 1 2/3 2 1 1 1 0 Quiroz 1 2/3 4 2 2 2 0 Childers (W, 1-0) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 Le Ducq pitched to three batters in the sixth inning. Garrick pitched to one batter in the eighth inning, Holcomb pitched to two batters in the ninth inning.
WP-Quiroz 2 (2).
Umpires-Tomaszewski (plate), Marpel (first), Montalbo (third). T-3:48. A-1.101.
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