[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
FRESNO, Calif. >> The Hawaii baseball season is over. Trapasso’s first season ends
with another thudFrom staff and wire services
The long and disappointing inaugural campaign under coach Mike Trapasso ended yesterday with another near miss.
Brent Cook's three-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth inning pulled the Rainbows to within one run of tying Fresno State. But, dramatic comebacks were not a trademark of the 2002 'Bows and nothing changed in the season finale.
Chad Edwards came out of the bullpen to strike out Scooter Martines on four pitches for the final out.
The Bulldogs survived with a 6-5 victory to sweep the three-game, Western Athletic Conference series and deal the Rainbows (16-40, 5-15 WAC) their 18th loss in 19 road games this year. Hawaii concludes its season with eight consecutive defeats and a last-place finish in the WAC.
"We hung in there and now we've got no more games," Trapasso said.
This was a game in which UH had more hits than FSU (12-6) and hit more home runs than the Bulldogs and still lost.
Fresno State took a 3-0 lead in the second inning that featured Brian Pierce's two-run homer off UH starter Sean Yamashita.
The Rainbows, who had five hits in the first four innings but no runs off Zach Minor, finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning on consecutive doubles to left by Brian Bock and Danny Mocny.
The Bulldogs (32-27, 19-11) answered right away with two runs in the bottom of the inning for a 5-1 lead. With one out, Yamashita hit Brad Harper, the 59th plunk by a UH pitcher this year, one short of the single-season record set last year. Joey Myers singled Harper to third, then took second on a wild pitch. Chris Patrick brought both teammates home with a single to right.
Tim Montgomery cut the UH deficit to 5-2 in the sixth with a home run over the center-field wall, but FSU pushed across one more run that turned out to be very important in the seventh. Matt Le Ducq walked Myers with two down.
He scored on consecutive singles by Patrick and Scott Beshears.
Julian Russell's triple to left-center field and a walk to Lane Nogawa set the stage for Cook's blast.
Notes: Derek Honma was 8-for-12 in the series, raising his batting average to .307, the only other Rainbow besides Cook (.325) to hit over .300 in 2002. ... Cook's third home run of the season tied him with Bock for the team lead. ... The team is scheduled to arrive home today at 1:39 p.m. on United Flight 59. ... Fresno State coach Bob Bennett finished his 34-year career with a 1,302-759-4 record, good enough for seventh on the NCAA Division I all-time list.
FRESNO ST. 6, HAWAII 5
Hawaii (16-40) AB R H BI FSU (32-27) AB R H BI Mocny 3b 4 0 2 1 Patrick ss 4 0 2 2 Pribble ph 1 0 0 0 Beshears 2b 4 0 1 1 Nogawa 2b 1 1 0 3 McGehee 3b 4 0 0 0 Cook cf 5 1 1 0 Fritz dh 4 1 0 0 Martines dh 5 0 0 0 Riday-White rf 4 1 1 1 Honma lf 4 0 3 0 Pierce 1b 4 1 1 2 Gilbride 1b 4 0 1 0 Hallaian lf 2 0 0 0 Montgomery rf 4 1 2 1 Suga ph/lf 1 0 0 0 Russell ss 4 1 2 0 Harper c 2 1 0 0 Bock c 3 1 1 0 Myers cf 2 2 1 0 Omori ph 1 0 0 0 Total 31 6 6 6 Total 36 5 12 5
Hawaii 000 011 003 - 5 12 3 Fresno State 030 020 10x - 6 6 0 E-Mocny 2(7), Russell (16). DP-Hawaii 1 (Russell-Nogawa-Gilbride), Fresno St. 1 (McGehee-Pierce). LOB-Hawaii 8, Fresno St. 3. 2B-Mocny (4), Bock (7). 3B-Russell (1). HR-Cook (3), Montgomery (1), Pierce (9). SH-Nogawa (6). CS-Riday-White (2).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Yamashita (L, 2-9) 5.0 4 5 4 0 4 Quaglieri 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Le Ducq 1.0 2 1 1 1 0 Lee 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Fresno St. IP H R ER BB SO Minor (W, 6-4) 8.2 12 5 5 2 5 Edwards (SV, 3) 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 WP-Yamashita (2). HBP-by Minor (Nogawa), by Yamashita (Harper). Umpires-HP: Ken Bayne, 1B: Rick Saxton, 3B: John Deluca. T-2:24. A-3,264.
FINAL WAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 28 2 .933 - 47 11 .810 SanJose St. 21 9 .700 7 45 15 .750 Fresno St. 19 11 .633 9 32 27 .552 Nevada 10 20 .333 18 25 33 .431 LaTech 7 23 .233 21 21 37 .362 Hawaii 5 25 .167 23 16 40 .286 Yesterday
Fresno State 6, Hawaii 5
Rice 13, Louisiana Tech 1
UH Athletics
