Monday, February 18, 2002
Bock’s 10th-inning Hawaii baseball coach Mike Trapasso hopes the three-game sweep of UCLA becomes a steppingstone for his players.
blast bops Bruins
Hawaii finishes off a sweep of
UCLA and makes it to .500By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comYesterday's game at Murakami Stadium was the third consecutive hard-fought, down-to-the-last-out confrontation against the Bruins (7-6).
Brian Bock's towering home run over the left-field wall in the bottom of the 10th inning powered UH to a dramatic 8-7 victory in the nonconference meeting. He was the leadoff batter in the inning as UCLA reliever Mike Castillo threw just four pitches.
"I told Brian and Arthur (Guillen, who followed Bock in the batting order) they were bringing this guy (Castillo) in to get you out because he threw all breaking pitches against us Friday," said Trapasso.
All Bock saw was fastballs. He was waiting for an inside pitch he could turn on.
"I just wanted to hit one in the gap and get to second base," said the UH catcher who was dropped to the ninth spot in the lineup yesterday.
"I got my timing down on a pitch he threw down the middle. The next one was the same pitch, just a little more inside," said Bock. "I took the same step and everything just flowed. If it had been an off-speed pitch, I would have taken it."
The gap he hit was between the two versions of "Big Blue," the outfield walls, at Murakami Stadium.
"No way was I thinking home run," said Bock.
Matt Le Ducq earned the win with three innings of nail-biting relief. Before putting the Bruins down in order in the tenth, he gave up a one-out double to Josh Arhart and walked Casey Janssen with two down in the eighth, but survived.
The Bruins loaded the bases after two were out in the ninth on a single by Ryan McCarthy, a walk to Matt Thayer and an infield single by Ben Francisco that Cortland Wilson caught in the hole at short to prevent a run from scoring.
"I almost gave myself a heart attack," said Le Ducq. "I knew I had McCarthy rung up on the 2-2 pitch and, like an idiot, walked the next guy. But, when Arhart came up, I knew he couldn't handle the off-speed pitch. He had been popping it up or rolling over on it all series."
This time Le Ducq escaped when Arhart hit a routine fly to Kevin Gilbride in right to end the threat.
Hawaii (5-5) had a runner at third on Chad Boudon's leadoff double and Bock's sacrifice bunt in the eighth, but couldn't score. Scooter Martines singled to center to start the ninth and took second on Wilson's sacrifice bunt, but, again, the UCLA bullpen denied the 'Bows.
Two freshman right-handers, UCLA's Kyle Wilson and UH's Ricky Bauer, started the game. Neither got out of the third inning.
The Bruins overcame an early 2-0 deficit by reaching Bauer for five hits, including RBI doubles by Francisco and Arhart, and four runs in the top of the third.
The Rainbows answered in the bottom of the inning by loading the bases on singles by Brent Cooke, Gregg Omori and Martines. That finished Wilson and brought in Kevin Jerkens, who induced Wilson to hit into a fielder's choice, forcing Cooke at the plate.
However, Gilbride sent a soft line drive to left on a 3-1 pitch that Thayer let bounce over his head in left field for a bases-clearing double as UH regained the lead 5-4.
Martines doubled to left and scored on Lane Nogawa's two-out single in the fifth for a 6-4 UH lead, but Francisco's two-run homer over the right-field fence in the top of the sixth lifted the Bruins back into a tie.
The Rainbows went ahead by a run on Omori's two-out double off the center-field wall in the bottom of the inning that scored Cook, but the Bruins again tied it up. Billy Susdorf singled, stole second, took third on Craig Jensen's single to left and came home on McCarthy's sacrifice fly in the seventh.
The 7-7 standoff held until Bock's blast.
"Maybe now we can create the psychology of winning," said Trapasso. "Our practices last week were good, so good in fact, we cut Thursday's short. Maybe our guys were bothered by the way they played against Sacramento State."
Hawaii opens a three-game series against Brigham Young Thursday at 6:35 p.m.
Notes: The Rainbows entered the UCLA series hitting .241. They hit .389 against Bruins pitching. ... Brent Cooke was 12-for-14 (.857) with three runs scored and three RBIs in the three-game series. He was retired on a line drive to center and a sharp grounder to short and was walked intentionally in the eighth inning yesterday with a runner on third base. ... The series drew 3,924 fans into Murakami Stadium, an average of 1,308 per game.
HAWAII 8, UCLA 7
UCLA AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Thayer lf 5 0 0 0 Guillen cf 3 1 0 0 Francisco cf 4 2 4 3 Cook 3b 4 1 3 1 Arhart c 6 1 3 1 Omori 1b 5 1 2 1 Berry rf 6 1 1 1 Martines dh 5 2 3 0 Whisler 1b 4 0 1 0 Wilson ss 3 2 0 0 Janssen 1b 1 0 0 0 Gilbride rf 3 0 1 3 Susdorf dh 4 1 2 1 Nogawa 2b 3 0 1 1 Conlin 3b/2b 4 0 2 0 Bouden lf 4 0 1 1 Rasmussen 2b 3 0 0 0 Bock c 3 1 1 1 Jensen ph 1 0 1 0 Total 33 8 12 8
Griffin pr/ss 1 0 0 0 McCarthy ss/3b 3 2 3 1 Totals 46 7 17 7 E--none. DP--UCLA 2 (Rasmussen-McCarthy, McCarthy-Conlin-Janssen), Hawaii none. LOB--UCLA 14, Hawaii 10.
UCLA 004 002 100 0 -- 7 17 0 Hawaii 113 011 000 1 -- 8 12 0 2B--Francisco (5), Arhart 2 (5), Omori (4), Martines (1), Boudon (1). 3B--none. HR--Francisco (3), Bock (1). SH--Guillen, Wilson, Bock. SF--McCarthy, Bouden. SB--Berry, Susdorf, Guillen. CS--none.
UCLA IP H R ER BB SO Wilson 2.0 4 5 5 3 0 Jerkens 3.2 5 2 2 0 2 Johnson 3.1 2 0 0 3 3 Castillo (L, 0-1) 0.0 1 1 1 0 0
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer 2.2 7 4 4 0 2 Yamashita 4.1 7 3 3 2 4 Le Ducq (W, 1-0) 3.0 3 0 0 2 1 Wilson pitched to three batters in the third inning.
WP--Le Ducq. S--none. PB--none. Guillen (Wilson), Bock (Jerkens). Umpires--Don Greman (home), Jim LeBeau (first), Mike Evans (third). T--3:18. A--1,432.
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