FRESNO, Calif. >> The Hawaii Rainbows took a 4-0 lead in the second, skipped the third, then scored in every inning the rest of the way to defeat Fresno State 13-8 yesterday at Beiden Field and even the Western Athletic Conference series at a game apiece. ’Bows finally break down
walls at Beiden FieldFrom staff and wire reports
The teams play the deciding game at 11 a.m. today.
The Rainbows (12-4, 1-1 WAC) hit three home runs and received excellent relief pitching from freshman right-hander Rich Olsen at a time in the game when the Bulldogs kept matching UH to stay within striking distance. Olsen did allow three hits and two runs, but kept FSU off the scoreboard in the seventh and eighth innings, when the 'Bows expanded their lead from 8-5 to 12-5.
"Rich actually did a pretty good job. He made one bad pitch, an 0-2 breaking ball he left over the plate, but he threw strikes, got ahead of the batters and put some zeros on the board," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.
The four runs in the second inning were scored after two were out and followed a shaky first inning by UH starter Justin Cayetano, who escaped a bases-loaded jam when batterymate Brian Bock picked off FSU's Brian Pierce with a perfect throw to first baseman Andrew Sansaver to end the inning.
"That play was huge. Brian saw the opportunity and Andrew completed the play," said Trapasso. "It was funny, but the minute that happened I told our staff that we would win and that play would be the story of the game."
Bock then lined a one-out single to left to start the second inning. He took second on a groundout and scored on Tim Montgomery's double to right. Schafer Magana's single to right advanced Montgomery to third and he scored on Brian Finegan's single to right. Sansaver's double to right scored Magana and Finegan.
Hawaii hit three home runs in extending their lead.
Bock hit his fifth homer of the season, a solo blast over the left-field fence in the fifth. Brent Cook hit a two-run homer over the same fence in the sixth, scoring Sansaver, whose two-out bunt single had extended the inning. And Jaziel Mendoza hit his first UH home run, a three-run shot over the right-field fence in the seventh.
The 'Bows finished with 16 hits and Trapasso credited his batters with making an impressive adjustment after their performance Friday night.
"The adjustment was what we work on all the time. First, it's about competing and being aggressive," said Trapasso. "We haven't been attacking the ball. We've been rolling (the wrists) over and getting out in front of the pitch rather than letting the ball travel.
"We got on our guys a little bit about that. We told them there are going to be times where the offense has to carry the pitchers. It was good to see our offense win a game today."
The Rainbows had lost six consecutive games to the Bulldogs over the last two seasons and had only won twice in the last 13 meetings before yesterday's victory.
Sophomore right-hander Ricky Bauer starts the series finale for Hawaii today against Fresno State's Josh Glynn.
WAC Standings
WAC Games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 2 0 1.000 -- 14 1 Hawaii 1 1 .500 1 12 4 Fresno St. 1 1 .500 1 5 12 San Jose St. 0 0 .000 1 8 8 Nevada 0 0 .000 1 8 11 x-Louisiana Tech 0 2 .000 2 5 10 x-also has one nonconference tie
YESTERDAY
Rice 5, Louisiana Tech 1
Pacific 11, Nevada 6
San Jose State 6, Santa Clara 4 (10)
Hawaii 13, Fresno St. 8TODAY (All times HST)
Rice at Louisiana Tech, 1 a.m.
Santa Clara at San Jose State, 11 a.m.
Hawaii at Fresno State, 11:05 a.m.
Hawaii 13, Fresno St. 8
Hawaii AB R H BI Fresno AB R H BI Finegan ss 6 1 3 1 Haag 2b 5 1 1 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 2 4 Patrick ss 4 2 3 0 Cook 1f 5 2 1 2 Davis lf 4 1 1 1 Russo 3b 5 0 2 0 McGehee 3b 5 1 3 1 Green rf 5 1 0 0 Pierce 1b 3 0 1 1 Bock c 4 3 3 2 Sakamoto dh 5 1 2 1 Mendoza dh 5 1 1 3 Moore rf 5 1 1 1 Montgomery cf 4 3 3 1 Marcelli c 5 1 4 0 Magana 2b 4 1 1 0 Myers cf 4 0 1 1 Totals 42 13 16 13 Totals 40 8 17 6 Hawaii (12-4, 1-1) 040 112 311 -- 13 16 1 Fresno (5-12, 1-1) 010 112 003 -- 8 17 3 E -- Finegan, Pierce, Moore, C. Davis.
DP -- Hawaii 2, Fresno 1.
LOB -- Hawaii 8, Fresno 9.
2B -- Sansaver, Montgomery, Patrick 2, Pierce, Marcelli.
HR -- Cook (2), Bock (3), Mendoza (1), Moore (1).
SB -- Marcelli (1).
CS -- Montgomery.
SH -- Sansaver.
SF -- Sansaver.
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Cayetano 4 1/3 10 3 3 2 2 Olsen (W, 1-1) 3 2/3 4 2 2 0 3 Lee 1 3 3 3 2 0 Fresno IP H R ER BB SO Garza (L, 1-4) 2 6 4 4 1 0 Wiebe 1 1 1 1 1 1 Griffin 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 Girazian 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 Infante 2 4 4 3 0 1 Edwards 0 1 2 2 0 0 Davis 1 1/3 1 1 0 0 1 Bair 1 2/3 3 1 1 0 1 WP -- Olsen, Griffin.
HBP -- Magana (by Griffin), Bock (by Edwards).
Umpires -- HP: Rick Saxton, 1b: David Wiley, 3b: Jim Garman.
T -- 3:36.
A -- 2,500.
UH Athletics
