Cougars choke
’Bows in the clutch
Hawaii leaves 13 runners on base
to waste a strong effort on the mound
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin
They teased fans, raised their hopes, exciting them by loading the bases four times. They even jammed the sacks in the bottom of the ninth inning with only one out.
But, in the end, the Hawaii Rainbow batters left the UH fans among the 1,094 in attendance at Murakami Stadium yesterday empty and frustrated.
Yes, the Brigham Young Cougars turned a throwing error by UH third baseman Brent Cook into an unearned run in the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory in the final of the three-game nonconference series.
Yes, Chris George, making his first start as a Rainbow, gave up leadoff walks to Doug Jackson in the first and third innings, and the Iolani graduate scored both times. The second time was on Matt Carson's third home run of the season as the Cougars (5-11) took a 3-0 lead.
But if the Rainbow offense had been clicking like it was against UCLA, the above happenings probably wouldn't have mattered much.
"The two walks hurt us. The unearned run hurt us, but they pale in comparison to the job we did offensively today," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "We were a joke offensively the entire day and that's why we lost the game.
"I honestly don't know what it was today. I've got to look at it on film because it was such a debacle. I don't even know where to start. Maybe the best thing to do is to just forget about it.
"It won't be an easy week of practice. I know that."
The Rainbows (6-7) loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning and scored their first run thanks to a wild pitch by BYU starter Matt Ward.
They did it again with one down in the fifth and managed a second run on Scooter Martines' sacrifice fly to center field.
With one out in the seventh, the 'Bows again loaded the bases, but Martines dribbled a ball back to BYU reliever Paul Jacinto, who got the force at home. Cortland Wilson's two-strike single to center brought in a run and tied the score at 3-3.
Ward got out of the fourth inning by getting Lane Nogawa on a fly to Carson in medium right field, not deep enough for Gregg Omori to try to score from third.
Carson had thrown Arthur Guillen out at the plate in the first inning on a play Trapasso said was his mistake.
"I told Art to go because I knew there was no way he (BYU center fielder Doug Jackson) was going to catch it going back and throw him out, but then the right fielder came in (to make the catch). I cost us one run," said the UH coach.
Jacinto fanned Wilson looking to end the fifth inning and struck out Tim Montgomery swinging to conclude the seventh. With one out in the ninth, Jacinto hit Omori with a pitch.
BYU coach Vance Law went to the bullpen for Tyler Dabo, who had pitched 313 innings, given up nine hits and had an earned run average of 10.00. Dabo walked Martines and hit Wilson with a pitch to load the bases.
However, following a mound visit, Dabo struck out pinch hitter Danny Mocny on four pitches and saved the game by fanning Nogawa on three pitches.
"He threw me slider, fastball, fastball," said Nogawa. "He gave me a good one (to hit) on the 0-1 pitch. I just missed it."
Trapasso said the 'Bows brought passion to the park, played hard but didn't compete at the plate. They weren't aggressive, got behind in the count too often, took good pitches and swung at bad pitches.
"We have to regroup. We couldn't move the ball with guys on third and one out," said Trapasso. "That was about as bad a performance offensively as I can remember. The good thing about that is we won't be that bad offensively again as far as squandering opportunities. I don't see how we could be.
"They beat us although we beat ourselves today. It's a shame. It's a crying shame to leave 13 guys on base."
George's outing was a plus as the right-hander made his bid to join the starting rotation. He gave up just four hits, walked three and struck out seven in 613 innings.
"He got better as he went along. He quit trying to worry about throwing his fastball and went more to his off-speed stuff, almost started pitching backward," said Trapasso. "That settled his fastball. We'll take seven innings and three runs in any start all year."
The 'Bows return to action Friday, when they open a three-game series against UC Irvine.
BYU 4, HAWAII 3
| BYU (5-11) |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii (6-7) |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Jackson cf |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Guillen cf |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
| Coughlan lf |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Cook 3b |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Carson rf |
4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Omori 1b |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Itri 2b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Martines dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Obrey dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Wilson ss |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Jensen 1b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Gilbride rf |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Stubblefield 3b |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Montgomery rf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Birkeland c |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Mocny ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Wiens ss |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
Nogawa 2b |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Totals |
33 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
Boudon lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bock c |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
31 |
3 |
7 |
2 |
|
| BYU |
102 |
000 |
001 |
-- |
4 |
6 |
3 |
| Hawaii |
000 |
110 |
100 |
-- |
3 |
7 |
2 |
E--Carson, Jensen, Ward, Cook 2. DP--BYU 2 (Carson-Birkeland; Jensen-Wiens, Hawaii none. LOB--BYU 7, Hawaii 13. 2B--Obrey (5), Omori (5). 3B--none. HR--Carson (3). SH--Birkeland, Boudon. SF--Martines. SB--Jackson, Birkeland. CS--Wiens.
| BYU |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Ward |
4.1 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
| Jacinto (W, 1-0) |
4.0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
| Dabo |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| George |
6.1 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
| Yamashita (L, 0-1) |
2.2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
WP--Jacinto. S--Dabo (1). PB--none. HBP--Cook (Ward), Omori 2, (Jacinto 2). Umpires--Mike Evans (home), John Krason (first), Gary Montalbo (third). T--2:50. A--1,094.
