Bruins can’t stop
’Bows from
rallying 4 times
Hawaii overcomes 6 errors and will
be looking for a sweep of UCLA today
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
Not once, not twice, not three times, but four times the Hawaii baseball team rallied after the UCLA Bruins had taken a lead in yesterday afternoon's nonconference game at Murakami Stadium.
The first three times the Rainbows drew even. The fourth time, they tied the score then scored the winning run for a 7-6 victory in 11 innings as 905 fans applauded.
The win gives Hawaii its first series victory of the year. The teams meet in the finale at 1:05 p.m. today.
The Rainbows needed all 18 hits to pull off the comeback victory. In the end, those hits were just enough to offset the six errors they made in the field and the two mental errors, balks by starter Aaron Pribble and reliever William Quaglieri.
The Bruins (7-5) broke a 5-5 tie in the top of the 11th against Quaglieri after the sophomore right-hander had retired the first two Bruins.
Matt Thayer beat out a slow hopper up the third-base line and took second when Cortland Wilson bobbled Ben Francisco's ground ball to short. Josh Arhart singled to left on Quaglieri's next pitch, scoring Thayer, but the 'Bows cut down Francisco at third to end the inning.
Arthur Guillen, who made a fine running, sliding catch in shallow right-center field in the seventh to keep the Bruins off the board, opened the 11th by walking on a 3-2 pitch from Wade Clark, UCLA's third pitcher.
Danny Mocny fanned on three pitches, but Cook, who was 4-for-5, was grazed by a fastball, moving Guillen to second.
"I saw where he (Clark) was working a lot of our guys in. I saw the fastball coming and turned my shoulder. It didn't get me a whole lot," said Cook who was 9-for-10 in the two games. Gregg Omori singled through the hole to left on a two-ball pitch, loading the bases.
Scooter Martines hit a soft liner to center that scored Guillen, but UH coach Mike Trapasso held Cook at third, keeping the bases full. Up next was Wilson, with instructions from Trapasso and a chance to atone for his two fielding errors. He would face UCLA's fourth pitcher, Mike Castillo, a right-hander who seemed to favor off-speed pitches.
"The one thing coach told me was if I hit a ground ball, I better beat it out," Wilson said.
Wilson's first contact was a high foul fly down the right-field line that Bruin right fielder Adam Perry intentionally did not catch after making sure the ball was foul.
"That was a smart play on his part," said Wilson. "The ball was taking him away (from home plate)."
On a 3-1 pitch, Wilson softly hit a medium-high hopper to UCLA shortstop Preston Griffin. He flipped the ball to second baseman Ryan Rasmussen for the force out on Martines, but the relay to first was too late to get Wilson as Cook scored the winning run.
"After you make an error like that and come in (to the dugout), you're sad, but the rest of the team picked me up and we knew we were going to win," Wilson said.
Trapasso said, "The kids impressed me so much today, maybe more so than yesterday (Friday night). Yesterday I told our staff after the game that I didn't think we could play any better.
"Today was a lot harder to get out there and get things done when you have to overcome adversity and are making mistakes defensively. We were getting a lot of hits, but weren't getting runs early. I can't say how impressed I am with our kids for answering back every time."
Through the first seven innings, the game had been a battle of left-handers.
UCLA starter Mike Kunes had scattered eight UH hits, walked none and struck out six. He allowed just one run on an RBI single after a classic showdown with Lane Nogawa in the fourth. Kunes kept challenging Nogawa, who fouled pitch after pitch off before singling to center on Kunes' 13th pitch.
Pribble was just as sharp, giving up seven hits, walking two and fanning five while surrendering a run. He left after seven innings and 102 pitches.
"I agree it was a better outing and it's probably due to having a little better location throwing my change-up more for strikes," Pribble said. "I was still up in the zone a little, but Brian (Bock) did a great job of calling pitches."
The fun started in the eighth when the Bruins scored two unearned runs and the 'Bows made three errors.
Two-out RBI singles by Wilson and pinch hitter Kevin Gilbride pulled UH back into a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth.
In the ninth, Quaglieri gave up two-out singles to Thayer and Francisco, then balked them to second and third. They scored on Arhart's bloop single to right.
"I jammed him with a good pitch, but he got the bloop hit. Not everything can be perfect," said Quaglieri.
But in the bottom of the inning, Guillen reached base on a ground ball when the pitcher dropped the throw to first and Mocny walked. Guillen came home on Cook's single to center and Omori's sacrifice fly to right plated Mocny for the game's third tie, 5-5.
Quaglieri retired UCLA in order in the 10th and the Bruins turned their second double play to halt UH in the bottom of the inning.
"We've won a series and now we have to learn how to go for the sweep," said UH pitching coach Chad Konishi.
Trapasso added, "That was Rainbow baseball, players playing with passion. They never stopped believing they could win."
HAWAII 7, UCLA 6
| UCLA |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Thayer lf |
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
Moeny dh |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Francisco cf |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
Cook 3b |
5 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
| Arhart c |
6 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
Omori 1b |
5 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Janssen 1b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Martines lf |
6 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Berry rf |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Wilson ss |
6 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
| Grzecka dh |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Montgomery rf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Conlin 3b |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Gilbride ph/rf |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Rasmussen 2b |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Nogawa c |
5 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
|
| Griffin ss |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Bock cf |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Totals |
46 |
6 |
14 |
4 |
Guillen |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
46 |
7 |
18 |
7 |
|
| UCLA |
001 |
000 |
022 |
01 |
-- |
6 |
14 |
1 |
| Hawaii |
000 |
100 |
022 |
02 |
-- |
7 |
15 |
6 |
E--Silva, Cook, Wilson 2, Bock 3. DP--UCLA 2 (Grissin-Rasmussen-Janssen 2), Hawaii 1 (Wilson-Nogawa-Omori). LOB--UCLA 9, Hawaii 11. 2B--Cook (1), Omori (3). 3B--none. HR--none. SH--none. SF--Omori. SB--Francisco 2, Rasmussen, Guillen. CS--Arhart.
| UCLA |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Nunes |
7.1 |
10 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
| Silva |
1.0 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Clark (0-1) |
2.0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
| Castillo |
0.1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Pribble |
7.0 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
| George |
1.0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Quaglieri (1-1) |
3.0 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
WP--Quaglieri. S--none. PB--none. HBP--Cook (Clark). Umpires--HP: Mike Evans, 1B: John Krason, 3B:Gary Montalbo. T--3:20. A--905.
