UCLA scores It was stubbornness at its best. Two teams digging in, refusing to give an inch or give up a run when it came down to crunch time.
in the ninth
to beat Hawaii
The Rainbows rally from 2-0
and 4-2 deficits before losing
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comTied at 4 after five, Hawaii and UCLA battled for three scoreless innings before the Bruins pushed through. Sean Carpenter scored from third on a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the ninth to give UCLA a 5-4 victory in front of 2,033 fans (3,016 tickets issued) at Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbows (1-1) and Bruins (3-3) finish the series his afternoon (1:05 p.m. start). Hawaii leads the series 30-23.
"It's a real tough loss, what you call a swing game," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso, after his team gave up two unearned runs in a one-run ballgame. "We made enough mistakes to lose. I told the guys that it's something we'll have to take as a positive because it's something we'll have to learn. We only got five hits but if we had just executed with those five hits we'd be still playing.
"We had a bases-loaded situation (in the fifth) and you have to come through. We showed that when we don't execute, we're going to get beat. But we also showed that even though we don't execute, we're right in there."
UCLA managed just three hits over the last six innings, one off starter Justin Cayetano and two off freshman reliever Rich Olsen. Olsen, son of former UH star Richard Olsen, picked up the loss in relief after three innings of work.
It was the second hit off Olsen, by Carpenter, that did the damage. UCLA's freshman third baseman singled to center on Olsen's first offering, then went all the way to third on a pass ball.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii pitcher Rich Olsen couldn't make the tag as UCLA's Sean Carpenter scored the winning run in the ninth inning last night. The Bruins won 5-4.
Five pitches later, Carpenter scored the game-winner on curve ball that got away from Olsen.
It was the first appearance for Olsen, a freshman from Iolani. It was also the first appearance for Cayetano, a red-shirt senior, who was making his first start in two years.
Cayetano gave up four runs -- three earned -- in six innings, striking out six before leaving with the game tied 4-4. Cayetano replaced scheduled starter Colby Summer (tendinitis in his throwing elbow).
"We threw Olsen out there," said Trapasso. "We're thin in bullpen only on maturity and experience, not with talent. He had a couple of curve balls that got away that cost us the run.
"And Justin was on a pitch-count. All of our guys are on about 90 (pitches)."
The Bruins got to Cayetano early, with Chris Denove's two-run double that went to the center-field wall to give UCLA a 2-0 lead.
As they had in Friday's opener, the Rainbows rallied. Hawaii used an error and a run-scoring double by shortstop Brian Finegan to even it up with two runs in the bottom of the second.
But Finegan was stranded at third, one of 10 runners Hawaii left on base.
"It was a tough one," said Finegan, again turning in a solid performance at short. "Even with just five hits, we expected to win the game. One more hit here or there, we would have.
"But they played a heck of a game, they pitched well, made the plays that needed to be made. Sometimes you just come up short."
UCLA regained the lead in the top of the third with two runs. Preston Griffin, in his first appearance as a lead-off hitter this season, opened with his second single of the game. He scored on Wes Whisler's single to shallow center and, one out later, Denove drove in his third run of the night when scoring Casey Janssen from third with his single to deep short.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
UCLA's Sean Carpenter beat the throw to Hawaii's Schafer Magana last night. Carpenter would go on to score the winning run.
The Rainbows closed to within 4-3 in the bottom of the third on Joshua Green's hard fly-out to right that scored Isaac Omura from third. Omura had opened the inning with a double down the third-base line, the second extra-base hit in as many games for the freshman second baseman.
In the bottom of the fifth, Hawaii tied it for the second time when lead-off hitter Schafer Magana scored on Green's double to the gap. The Rainbows squandered a chance to go ahead as, with the bases loaded, Bock's weak pop-up was snagged in foul territory by Whisler to end the threat.
The game remained deadlocked at 4-4 until Carpenter scored the game-winner.
UCLA's David Johnson picked up the win in relief, holding Hawaii scoreless over the last 2 2/3 innings. Denove lead the Bruins with 3 RBI, going 2 for 4.
Green had two of Hawaii's five hits, driving in two runs.
Note: Hundreds of fans again missed the first innings of the game as there was only one ticket window open. It took some fans over 30 minutes to buy tickets ... Trapasso would not comment on the inconsistency of the strike zone by the umpires that led to several of his players looking at called strikes that appeared way off the plate.
UCLA 5, Hawaii 4
UCLA AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Thayer cf 4 0 1 0 Magana 3b 4 1 0 0 Janssen dh 5 1 1 0 Omura 2b 4 1 1 0 Whisler 1b 4 1 2 1 Cook 1f 2 0 1 0 Susdorf rf 3 0 0 0 Green rf 4 0 2 2 McMillan 1f 4 0 1 0 Russo dh 3 1 0 0 Denove c 4 0 2 3 Ponomarenko 1b 1 0 0 0 Griffin 2b 5 2 2 0 Sansaver ph/1b 0 0 0 0 McCarthy ss 3 0 0 0 Bock c 3 1 0 0 Carpenter 3b 4 1 1 0 Montgomery cf 4 0 0 0 Jensen 1f 0 0 0 0 Finegan ss 4 0 1 1 Kunes 0 0 0 0 Cayetano p 0 0 0 0 Johnson 0 0 0 0 Olsen p 0 0 0 0 Totals 36 5 10 4 Totals 30 4 5 3
UCLA (3-3) 202 000 001 -- 5 10 1 Hawaii (1-1) 021 010 000 -- 4 5 1 E -- McCarthy, Ponomarenko. LOB -- UCLA 6, Hawaii 10. 2B -- Denove, Omura, Green, Finegan. 3B -- Cook. HBP -- Magana (by Kunes) Sansaver (by Johnson). SH -- McCarthy, Omura, Ponomarenko. SF -- Green. SB -- Thayer.
UCLA IP H R ER BB SO Kunes 6.1 4 4 3 4 4 Johnson 2.2 1 0 0 2 6 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Cayetano 6.0 9 4 3 0 6 Olsen 3.0 1 1 0 1 2 WP -- Kunes 2, Johnson, Olsen 2. S -- none. PB -- Bock 2. Umpires -- HP: Don Greman, 1b: Ryan Arasato, 3b: Keoki Torres. T -- 3:07. A -- 2,033.
UH Athletics
