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Strange play leads Hawaii head coach Mike Trapasso leaves for the mainland tonight to scout prospects for next season before rejoining the Rainbows in San Jose later this week.
to ‘Bows’ demise
Martines makes a diving catch,
but 2 Fresno State runners score
after he hits a support poleBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comHe will be looking for players who can provide the 2003 team with some offense.
Yesterday afternoon at Murakami Stadium there were two rare, strange plays, but the lack of offense by the Hawaii batters was the norm.
Fresno State took advantage of one of those plays while breaking a scoreless game in the sixth inning. The Bulldogs went on to win the Western Athletic Conference series with a 6-1 victory behind Zach Minor's complete game before 1,536 fans.
UH starter Ricky Bauer pitched extremely well for five innings. He needed just five pitches in the third and fourth innings and six pitches in the fifth to retire the Bulldogs.
In the sixth, Chris Patrick and Patrick McGehee poked singles to right. Patrick scored and McGehee moved to third on a ground-rule double to right-center field by Ben Fritz, who was 8-for-11 in the three-game series.
Then, Brian Pierce hit a high fly ball foul down the left-field line that Scooter Martines caught with a rolling, diving grab as he smashed into the chain-link fence, knocking the double-door gate open. But, the UH left-fielder cracked his head against one of the support poles and lay dazed on the ground, ball in his glove, as McGehee and Fritz scored easily on the sacrifice fly.
"Ricky pitched well enough to win. He's had his innings where he has struggled at times, but in his last four or five starts, he's been able to get out of it, which he did today. It was bad luck on that diving play that cost him two runs," said Trapasso.
"What happened after that is these kids are human and when you are so anemic offensively, giving up the three spot, you could see the wind come out of his sails. He gets into the mode of what do I have to do to get a win. He loses a 2-1 game at Louisiana Tech and comes out of the Rice game after seven innings having given up just one run. It's rough when you can't score."
The other odd play happened in the top of the seventh when Brendon Suga stole second, but thinking the pitch had been fouled at the plate, started walking back to first and was tagged out attempting to get to second a second time.
The 'Bows' offensive futility showed up early. Gregg Omori, Martines and Tim Montgomery opened the second inning with singles to load the bases.
Following a mound visit by FSU coach Bob Bennett, Minor struck out Danny Mocny swinging on a 3-2 pitch, then got Julian Russell to hit a lazy liner to left. Suga came in, made the catch and threw to catcher Brad Harper, who tagged Omori trying to score with a diving swipe to complete the double play.
The Rainbows (15-28, 4-14 WAC) mustered just four hits the remainder of the game. The lone run came in the sixth when Mocny walked, took second on a passed ball and scored on Russell's single to center.
Otherwise, Minor was in control. The senior right-hander walked two, fanned four but really had the UH hitters off balance at the plate. The 'Bows rarely made solid contact.
"He (Minor) just located his offspeed pitches very well. He wasn't overpowering, but everything was low and away," said Omori. "It's hard to hit someone when he hits his spots like that."
"We need some offense and that's why I was on the road all last week, why I'm going on the road this week and why we were on the road all fall and signed 12 guys," said Trapasso.
"We play good enough to lose. We've done that all year. We hang in there, hang in there, but we're not good enough to get over the hump. We're not talented enough to get those big hits. They work at it. They bust their tail. They play hard, but we're just not there.
"We're closer than people may think because we play so many games tight, but that's the difference between an offensive team and a team that doesn't generate any offense. We always pitch good enough to stay in games and that's all you can ask."
The Rainbows leave Wednesday morning for San Jose and a three-game series against the Spartans.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 20 1 .952 -- 39 8 .830 San Jose St. 14 7 .667 6 35 13 .729 Fresno St. 13 8 .619 7 25 22 .532 Nevada 5 13 .278 13 1/2 18 24 .429 Hawaii 4 14 .222 14 1/2 15 29 .349 LaTech 4 17 .190 16 17 28 .378 Yesterday
San Jose State 14, Nevada 6
Fresno State 6, Hawaii 1
Fresno State 6, Hawaii 1
Fresno St. AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Suga, lf 4 0 0 0 Guillen, cf 4 0 1 0 Beshears, 2b 5 1 1 0 Nogawa, 2b 4 0 0 0 Patrick, ss 4 1 2 1 Cook, dh 3 0 0 0 McGehee, 3b 5 2 3 1 Omori, 1b 4 0 1 0 Fritz, dh 4 2 3 2 Martines, lf 4 0 1 0 Pierce, 1b 3 0 1 2 Montgomery, rf 4 0 2 0 Harper, c 4 0 2 0 Mocny, 3b 3 1 1 0 Riday-White, rf 3 0 1 0 Russell, ss 3 0 1 1 Myers, cf 4 0 0 0 Gilbride, ph 1 0 0 0 Bock, c 3 0 0 0 Totals 36 6 13 6 Totals 33 1 7 1
Fresno State 000 003 021 -- 6 13 1 Hawaii 000 000 100 -- 1 7 1 E -- Minor (1), Russell (11). DP -- FS 2 (Beshears-Pierce, Suga-Harper). UH 2 (Mocny-Omori-2). LOB -- FS 9; UH 7. 2B -- Fritz (13), Montgomery (6), Mocny (2). SB -- Suga (2), Cook (16). CS -- Suga (2), Guillen 95). SF -- Pierce (3).
Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Minor (W, 5-3) 9 7 1 0 2 4 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (L, 1-5) 6 1/3 7 3 3 1 3 Le Ducq 1 2 2 2 0 1 Piepmeier 1 3 1 1 1 0 Quaglieri 2/3 1 0 0 2 0 PB -- Haper (4). HBP -- by Bauer (Riday-White). Umpires -- John De Luca, (plate), JohJim LeBeau (first), Kenny Bayne (third). T -- 2:25. A -- 1,536.
UH Athletics