RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Rocky Russo and HPU's Alika Kuraoka got tangled up at first base last night. The throw went into the dugout and Russo was awarded third base. But Russo failed to touch second on his way to third and was ruled out when the Sea Warriors appealed at second base.
The Hawaii Rainbows and Hawaii Pacific Sea Warriors renewed their intracity rivalry for the 24th time last night at Murakami Stadium in a game that won't be remembered as artistic. Hawaii tops HPU
for sloppy winBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
Eleven pitchers toiled on the mound, some by design, some out of necessity. There were six infield errors, some questionable 'Bow base running and numerous deep counts on batters.
The Sea Warriors (4-9) had runners on base in every inning except the first, but did not take advantage often enough as the Rainbows increased their lead in the series to 22-2 with a 9-3 victory before 809 fans.
"We definitely had our chances to stay close," said HPU coach Allan Sato, who owns both Sea Warrior victories over Hawaii. "I'm trying to break that record. If we don't do it on the 11th (of March), it will be 17 years since we last won."
Nick Ponomarenko pitched the first three innings and got the win. HPU starter Matt Paulsen took the loss.
Andrew Sansaver had three hits and two runs batted in to highlight the UH offense in an otherwise lackluster game.
"The only good thing was we got to use a lot of players," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso. "We were lucky to win, terrible on defense, flat, blah, blah, blah."
Brian Finegan's 10-game hitting streak ended when the UH shortstop went 0-for-3.
The Rainbows (8-3) knocked Paulsen out in the second inning after the HPU starter had retired them in order on eight pitches in the first inning.
Rocky Russo singled to right to start the inning, moved to second when Tim Montgomery walked and scored when Sansaver grounded Paulsen's first pitch into center. Schafer Magana's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners and Montgomery scored on Jaziel Mendoza's grounder.
Matt Inouye walked on four pitches and Finegan was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. When Paulsen hit Cook with a 3-2 pitch, he was done for the night and Sansaver scored for a 3-0 UH lead. Blane Muraoka, a senior left-hander, came out of the bullpen and fanned Josh Green on three offspeed pitches to end the inning.
The Sea Warriors used singles by Brandon Sato, Grandon Costa and Tyler Ward to get a run back in the top of the third inning. That ended Ponomarenko's stint on the mound, as planned.
Hawaii Pacific took advantage of an error to cut the UH lead to 3-2 in the fourth with an unearned run against freshman right-hander Michael Peck.
Scott Hunter bounced a single up the middle to start the inning and took second when Finegan bobbled Shay Hirota's grounder to short. Bryan Daguio's sacrifice bunt pushed the runners up a base and Hunter scored on Sato's groundout to the right side.
The Rainbows also picked up an unearned run when Finegan reached second on a throwing error by Daguio, HPU's shortstop. Finegan took third on Cook's groundout and scored on Green's double down the left-field line for a 4-2 UH lead.
After Russo walked, the 'Bows created a base-running circus. Green was caught in a rundown and tagged out between second and third. Russo was caught off first but Daguio's throw to first went into the UH dugout, an automatic two bases for the runner. However, Russo just walked across the infield to third instead or traveling via second base. The Sea Warriors appealed before the next pitch to the plate with a throw to second and Russo was called out.
Hawaii used four hits to score three runs for a little breathing room in the sixth.
Montgomery doubled to left on a two-strike pitch, took third on Sansaver's single to right and came home on Magana's double to left center. Mendoza's sacrifice fly brought Sansaver home and Inouye's seeing-eye blooper between a diving shortstop and third baseman into left scored Magana.
Sansaver and Magana knocked in the final two UH runs in the seventh.
Hawaii plays Hawaii-Hilo Saturday at 6:35 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
Hawaii 9, Hawaii Pacific 3
Hawaii Pacific AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Say cf 5 0 0 0 Finegan ss 3 1 0 0 Costa 3b-ss 4 1 2 0 Russell ss 1 0 0 0 Kuraoka 1b 3 0 0 0 Cook lf 4 0 0 1 Onaga ph 1 0 0 0 Green rf 4 1 2 1 Ward rf 5 0 1 1 Gilbride rf 0 0 0 0 DuPont dh 2 0 0 0 Russo 3b 4 2 2 0 Nakamura pr 0 0 0 0 Montgmery cf 3 2 1 0 Hunter lf 3 1 1 0 Sansaver 1b 4 2 3 2 Wolfer ph 1 0 0 0 Magana 2b 3 1 2 2 Hirota c 4 0 0 0 Mendoza dh 2 0 0 2 Daguio ss 1 0 0 0 Jackson dh 1 0 0 0 Little ph-3b 2 0 1 0 Inouye c 3 0 1 1 Sato 2b 4 1 1 1 Totals 35 3 6 2 Totals 32 9 11 9
Hawaii Pacific 001 100 001 -- 3 6 2 Hawaii 030 013 20x -- 9 11 4 E--Daguio 2, Finegan 2, Russo, Magana. LOB--HPU 12, Hawaii 7. 2B--Green, Montgomery, Magana. SH--Hunter, Daguio, Magana. SF--Mendoza. CS--Green.
Hawaii Pacific IP H R ER BB SO Paulsen (L, 2-2) 1.2 2 3 3 2 0 Muraoka 3.1 3 3 2 1 3 Erickson 1.0 4 3 3 0 1 Zamarano 0.1 2 0 0 0 1 Hatanaka 1.2 0 0 0 1 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Ponomarnko (W, 2-0) 3.0 3 1 1 1 4 Peck 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 McDowell 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 Olsen 1.0 0 0 0 2 2 Bauer 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 Horton 1.0 0 1 0 1 1 Muraoka faced two batters in the sixth; Erickson faced two batter in the seventh.
WP--Erickson, McDowell 2. HBP--by Paulsen (Finegan and Cook). Umpires--Jim LeBeau (plate), Mike Evans (first), John Krason (third).
T--3:13. A--809 (turnstile).
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