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The San Jose State Spartans picked up right where they left off in last weekend's Western Athletic Conference series by feasting on Hawaii pitching again last night. Spartans shut out ’Bows
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comFor the third consecutive game against the Rainbows, the Spartans reached double digits in hits and runs and stayed atop the Ohana Hotels & Resorts Rainbow Easter Tournament standings with a 12-0 victory.
The Spartans, who banged out 15 hits before 1,334 fans at Murakami Stadium, improved to 4-0 in the tournament. The 'Bows dropped to 1-2 and have lost 11 of their last 12 games.
The beneficiary of SJSU's offensive prowess was Michael Malott. The sophomore right-hander dominated the UH batters, holding them to one hit in pitching the complete-game victory. He struck out eight 'Bows and allowed just one runner past second base. The only negative about his performance was six walks, but the 'Bows couldn't take advantage and were shut out for the first time this year.
The Spartans opened the scoring in the top of the third inning after UH starter Jason Piepmeier retired the first batter.
Gabe Lopez singled to center and took third on a wild pickoff throw to first base. Ball four to Hector Zamora was a wild pitch, allowing Lopez to score. Ryan Adams singled Zamora to third. Zamora scored on Adam Shorsher's sacrifice fly to center.
The Rainbows had a marvelous opportunity to get a run back in the bottom of the inning when Grady Symonds led off with a triple into the right-field corner.
But Julian Russell went down swinging, flailing at the last two breaking pitches from Malott. Arthur Guillen then bunted the first pitch right back to Malott for an easy out in what might have been a safety squeeze situation.
After Brent Cook walked, Lane Nogawa struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch.
Things really turned ugly for the 'Bows in the fourth when SJSU scored five runs on just two hits, but took advantage of three hit batters, two walks, an error and two sacrifice flies.
Brad Kilby singled to center on a 1-2 pitch. Nathan Corrick walked. When Piepmeier's first pitch to Travis Becktel was a ball, Trapasso brought the usually reliable Matt Le Ducq in from the bullpen.
Le Ducq, who entered the game with an 0.55 earned run average, hit Becktel with a pitch, gave up a two-run single to left by Dino Quintero, hit Lopez with his first pitch and walked Zamora on a full count, forcing home a run.
Jean-Paul Gauthier, who had pitched just one inning so far this season, relieved Le Ducq and got out of the inning by getting Adams and Bryan Baker to hit sacrifice flies before Kilby flew out to center to end the inning.
Gauthier gave the Rainbows three good innings before the Spartans reached him for four consecutive hits and two more runs for a 9-0 lead in the seventh inning.
Birmingham-Southern 6, Hawaii Pacific 5
The Panthers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 15th inning to win the longest (5 hours, 17 minutes) game in Rainbow Easter Tournament history.David Driskill was safe at first on a fielding error by HPU third baseman Jonathan Torres to start the inning. On Mike Cline's sacrifice bunt, HPU catcher Shay Hirota's throw to first was wide and Driskill moved all the way to third base. Adam Pease was intentionally walked.
With the HPU outfield playing shallow, Mac Godwin hit a ball to short center, but the Sea Warriors only managed a force out at second as Driskill scored.
Godwin belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the score at 4-4.
The Sea Warriors retook the lead in the 10th inning when Wade Taguchi singled T.C. Everett home from second.
BSC tied the score in the bottom of the inning when Matt Bogue walked, stole second and third and scored on Pat Mizerany's sacrifice fly to center.
UC Riverside 5, Hawaii-Hilo 1
The Highlanders scored all the runs they needed in the first inning as freshman right-hander A.J. Shappi scattered eight Vulcan hits in pitching the complete game.Brian Wahlbrink single to start the URC first, stole second and took third on Adam Seuss' groundout. Tony Festa's two-out triple into the left-field corner scored Wahlbrink. Jason Collette then sliced a single to left scoring Festa.
The Vulcans threatened to produce a big inning in the bottom of the fifth when Chad Agustin singled to right and advanced to third on Daniel Lockett's double to left with no outs. Sean Tamura's single to left scored Agustin, but Shappi escaped further trouble.
He got Daniel Rhodes to pop to first, induced Kaliko Oligo to pop to third and retired Darren Chu on a grounder to second.
Easter Tournament
Tournament Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. San Jose St. 4 0 1.000 -- 23 9 .719 Lewis-Clark St. 2 1 .667 1 1/2 20 7 .741 UC Riverside 2 1 .667 1 1/2 17 11 .607 Birmingham-So. 2 1 .667 1 1/2 13 12 .520 Hawaii 1 2 .333 2 1/2 9 20 .310 Hawaii-Hilo 1 3 .250 3 9 28 .243 Hawaii Pacific 0 4 .000 4 17 20 .259 Yesterday
Birmingham-Southern 6, Hawaii Pacific 5
UC Riverside 5, Hawaii-Hilo 1
San Jose State 12, Hawaii 0
Today
UCRiverside vs. Lewis-Clark State, 10 a.m.
Birmingham-Southern vs. San Jose State, 2 p.m.
Hawaii vs. Hawaii Pacific, 6:35 p.m.
Tomorrow
Lewis-Clark State vs. San Jose State, 10 a.m.
Birmingham-Southern vs. UC Riverside, 2 p.m.
Hawaii vs, Hawaii-Hilo, 6:35 p.m.
San Jose St. 12, Hawaii 0
SJSU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Becktel rf 4 3 2 0 Guillen cf 3 0 0 0 Quintero cf 5 3 4 2 Cook 3b 3 0 0 0 Lopez 2b 3 2 3 2 Nogawa 2b 3 0 0 0 Zamora 3b 3 1 1 3 Mocny ph/2b 1 0 0 0 Adams ss 5 0 1 1 Honma lf 3 0 0 0 Shorsher c 3 0 0 1 Gilbride 1b 4 0 0 0 Milton ph 1 0 0 0 Omori dh 1 0 0 0 Baker 1b 2 0 0 1 Carlson ph 1 0 0 0 Bergstrom 1b 1 0 1 0 Montgomery rf 4 0 0 0 Kilby dh 4 1 1 0 Symonds c 2 0 1 0 Contreras ph/ss 1 0 0 0 Russell ss 3 0 0 0 Corrick lf 3 2 2 1 Totals 28 0 1 0 Totals 35 12 15 11
SJSU (23-9) 002 500 230 -- 12 15 1 Hawaii (9-20) 000 000 000 -- 0 1 2 E--Baker, Honma, Piepmeier. DP--San Jose St. 1, Hawaii 2. LOB--San Jose St. 14 Hawaii 7. 2B--Becktel. 3B--Symonds. SH--Quintero. SF--Zamora, Adams, Shorsher, Baker. SB--Quintero. CS--none.
San Jose St. IP H R ER BB SO Malott (W, 5-1) 9.0 1 0 0 6 8 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Piepmeier (L 0-3) 3.0 5 4 4 3 2 Le Ducq 0.0 1 3 3 0 0 Gauthier 3.0 5 2 2 4 0 Giannetti 3.0 4 3 3 1 3 WP--Malott. S--none. PB--Symonds 2. HBP--Baker (Piepmeier), Becktel, Lopez, Zamora (Le Ducq), Becktel (Gauthier). Umpires--Home: John Krasen, 1st: Gary Montalbo, 3rd: Keoki Torres. T--3:06. A--2844.
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