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Mateo Miramontes pitched a complete-game, five-hit shutout to lead the Nevada Wolf Pack to a 5-0 Western Athletic Conference victory over Hawaii before 1,054 fans at Murakami Stadium last night. Hawaii shut out by Nevada
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe win evens the three-game series at 1-1 with the finale set to start at 1:05 p.m. today.
Miramontes retired 13 of the last 14 UH hitters with only three balls being hit out of the infield, all easy fly balls to right field.
"I only threw 105 pitches and last week I threw 137 in seven innings. I think the key for me was I didn't walk anyone," said Miramontes, a sophomore right-hander who beat the Rainbows twice last year.
Hawaii assistant coach Josh Sorge said they had Miramontes at 92-94 mph on his fastball through six innings.
"He had pretty good stuff. We were usually down in the count and that's tough, but we had our same approach at the plate," Sorge said. "He's capable a shutting anyone down."
The shutout was the first of Miramontes' career and his first complete game this season.
He also received solid defensive support while his teammates took advantage of four Rainbow errors.
"I'm not a big fan of AstroTurf because you get someone to hit the ball down, but it bounces through so fast. Tonight, it was not a problem," Miramontes said.
"I think my best pitch after the fastball might have been the change-up, which I haven't thrown much all season. I told them I wanted to work on it here. My curve and slider also worked well."
The Wolf Pack got on the scoreboard first with a run in the third inning.
Carlos Madrid bounced a ball just inside the third-base line that went for a leadoff double. He took third on Mike Hass' sacrifice bunt and scored on Mike Gilles' groundout.
UH right-hander Sean Yamashita worked out of serious trouble in the next inning. Jarell McIntyre lined a double to left and moved to third when right fielder Kevin Gilbride dropped Erick Streelman's fly ball for a two-base error with no one out.
Yamashita fanned Matt Maguire and Madrid and got Hass to foul out to third baseman Brent Cook to end the inning.
McIntyre singled to left on a full count to start the sixth inning. He was sacrificed to second by Streelman and scored when Madrid was safe at first on Cook's throwing error, his second of the game.
Through eight innings, the Rainbow batters had little success against Miramontes. The 6-foot-4 sophomore allowed four hits, walked no one and struck out eight.
Gregg Omori singled and reached second base with one out when Scooter Martines was safe on a fielding error, but Gilbride grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Brian Bock started the third with a single and took second on Julian Russell's sacrifice bunt, but Miramontes retired the next two batters on ground balls.
Omori was left standing at second after hitting a ground-rule double with one out in the fourth.
Yamashita left after 119 pitches and seven strong innings. He fanned six, walked one and was charged with one earned run.
Will Quaglieri replaced Yamashita to start the eighth inning. The Wolf Pack found his offerings good enough for four hits. The left side of the infield didn't do the right-hander any favors.
McIntyre was safe at first to start the inning when Russell's throw pulled Omori off the bag at first. Streelman cracked a one-hop double off the left-field wall sending McIntyre to third. Then, with the UH infield playing in, Russell bobbled Maguire's grounder, costing him a chance to try for McIntyre at the plate although he did get Maguire at first.
Streelman took third and Madrid was credited with an infield single when Cook fielded his bunt in fair territory as he crossed the foul line and held the ball. Hass beat out a bunt toward third when Quaglieri's throw to first was late as Streelman scored and Gilles gave Nevada a 5-0 lead when he singled Madrid home.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 10 0 1.000 -- 27 6 .818 Fresno St. 6 4 .600 4 18 16 .529 San Jose St. 5 5 .500 5 25 10 .714 Nevada 3 5 .375 6 15 16 .483 Hawaii 2 6 .250 7 13 21 .382 LaTech 2 8 .200 8 15 17 .469 Yesterday
Nevada 5, Hawaii 0
Rice 8, San Jose State 4
Fresno State 1, Louisiana Tech 0Today
Rice at San Jose State
Nevada at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m.Tomorrow
Rice at San Jose State
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State
Nevada 5, Hawaii 0
Nevada AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Hass, rf 4 0 1 1 Guillen, cf 2 0 0 0 Gillies, 3b 4 0 1 2 Montgomery, ph/cf 2 0 0 0 Markel, c 5 0 1 0 Nogawa, 2b 4 0 1 0 Cappuccilli, dh 3 0 1 0 Cook, 3b 4 0 0 0 Laidlaw, cf 5 0 0 0 Omori, 1b 4 0 2 0 McIntyre, 1b 5 2 3 0 Honma, lf 4 0 0 0 Streelman, lf 2 0 1 0 Martines, dh 3 0 0 0 Gimenez, pr/lf 1 1 0 0 Gilbride, rf 3 0 0 0 Maguire, ss 4 0 0 1 Bock, c 3 0 1 0 Madrid, 2b 4 2 2 0 Russell, ss 2 0 1 0 Totals 37 5 10 4 Totals 31 0 5 0
Nevada (15-16, 3-5) 001 001 030 -- 5 10 1 Hawaii (13-21, 2-6) 000 000 000 -- 0 5 4 E -- Gillies, Cook 2, Gilbride, Russell. DP -- Nevada 1, UH 1. LOB -- Nevada 11, UH 5. 2B -- McIntyre, Streelman, Madrid, Omori. HBP -- Cappuccilli, Streelman. SH -- Hass, Streelman, Russell. CS -- Gillies.
Nevada IP H R ER BB SO Miramontes (4-4) 9.0 5 0 0 0 8 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Yamashita (2-3) 7.0 6 2 1 2 7 Quaglieri 2.0 4 3 2 0 1 WP -- Miramontes. HBP -- by Yamashita (Streelman); by Yamashita (Cappuccilli). Umpires -- Gary Montalbo (plate), Randy Christal (first), Gus Rodriguez (third).
T -- 2:31. A -- 1,054.
UH Athletics