Fresno St. rallies FRESNO, Calif. >> A baseball game is nine innings long.
past Hawaii in ninth
The Rainbows miss out on
a chance to open WAC play
by winning a road seriesFrom staff and wire reports
Not eight innings, two outs and two strikes.
Hawaii's two relief pitchers were painfully reminded of that yesterday when Fresno State rallied for two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 5-4 victory at Beiden Field.
The loss sent the Rainbows (12-5, 1-2 Western Athletic Conference) home with a 2-2 split of their road trip and gave the host Bulldogs (6-12, 2-1) momentum heading into today's opener of their 25th Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic against Penn.
"Obviously, it's a tough loss," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso. "The truth is, we didn't get the job done. Fresno played nine innings and we didn't.
"Before the trip, I probably would have been happy to be coming back 2-2. But when we're sitting there and we're ahead 4-1 after seven ... we're expecting to come back 3-1. It didn't happen."
On Saturday, Hawaii snapped a six-game losing skid to Fresno State with a 13-8 victory. It was also the Rainbows' first win at Beiden Field since March 19, 2000, a string of seven straight.
In that game, the Bulldogs rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't enough. Yesterday, Fresno State only needed two, coming into the last inning trailing 4-3.
Hawaii reliever Clary Carlsen was a strike away from his fifth save, with two outs, a runner at second and a 1-2 count on the Bulldogs' leadoff hitter, Ryan Haag. Carlsen had blown two fastballs, clocked at 90 mph, past Haag, but the junior second baseman connected for a single off the glove of UH second baseman Isaac Omura to score pinch runner Joey Myer to tie it 4-4.
Chris Patrick followed with a single, chasing Carlsen and putting Nick Ponomarenko on the mound. Ponomarenko, a product of nearby Clovis, was a pitch away from having the game go into extra innings when FSU's Tory Davis hit a sharp grounder to short that Brian Finegan -- another Clovis native -- couldn't handle.
The error loaded the bases for clean-up hitter Casey McGehee. The junior third baseman drilled a 1-2 pitch to deep right-center, just beyond the reach of Hawaii center fielder Tim Montgomery, to score Haag from third with the game-winner.
"There's no doubt that 'Pono' came into a tough situation," Trapasso said of Ponomarenko, who had family and friends in the stands. "He did a good job, but he got hurt by a ground ball that turned into an error and a well-placed fly ball.
"You have to tip your hat to Fresno. They didn't give up, got the job done. It was a tough loss, but what the team has to do is not let the one loss turn into three or four. We went 2-2 on the road. We know we have things to work on, but we're a solid club."
The Rainbows got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the second. Jaziel Mendoza's sacrifice fly scored Rocky Russo, who had opened with a lead-off single, and Omura singled up the middle to drive in Joshua Green.
The Bulldogs closed to 2-1 with a run in the third, but Hawaii responded in the top of the fourth. Catcher Brian Bock homered for the second time in the series to lead off the fourth and give the Rainbows some breathing room at 3-1.
Hawaii added another run in the seventh. Montgomery opened with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Omura and scored on a wild pitch.
The Rainbows got a solid pitching performance from sophomore Ricky Bauer, who went seven-plus innings in a no-decision. It was Bauer's longest outing in four starts and the right-hander from Mid-Pacific didn't get into real trouble until the eighth.
Nursing a 4-1 lead, Bauer gave up consecutive singles that put runners at the corners with no outs. Trapasso went with Carlsen, "who has been money for us all year," he said.
The junior right-hander gave up two runs on a sacrifice fly to center by Patrick and a full-count RBI single to right by McGehee to pull Fresno within 4-3.
Bulldog closer Bryan Wolfenbarger (1-2) picked up two of his four strikeouts while getting the Rainbows to go down in order in the top of the ninth, setting up the game-winning rally.
"Ricky pitched very, very well," said Trapasso. "He was cruising until the eighth. I think what our guys learned is they have to make better pitches.
"Give Fresno a lot of credit, they got it going and we couldn't stop it. We just need to put this behind us. We have a lot of games over the next three weeks and we could be seeing the best team in the country this weekend."
Hawaii hosts No. 5 Rice (15-1, 3-0) in a three-game series that begins Friday. Before that, the Rainbows host Hawaii Pacific tomorrow and Matzusaka of Japan in an exhibition Wednesday. Both games start at 6:35 p.m.
Hawaii then hosts Coastal Carolina (March 18-19), Nevada (March 21-23) and then the annual Rainbow Easter Tournament.
Bock was the only Rainbow to pair hits, going 2-for-3. Patrick and Scott Beshears both finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs for the Bulldogs.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 3 0 1.000 -- 15 1 Fresno St. 2 1 .667 1 6 12 San Jose St. 0 0 .000 1 1/2 9 8 Nevada 0 0 .000 1 1/2 8 11 Hawaii 1 2 .500 2 12 5 x-Louisiana Tech 0 3 .000 3 5 11
x-also has one nonconference tieYesterday
Rice 12, Louisiana Tech 0
San Jose State 5, Santa Clara 4
Fresno State 5, Hawaii 4
Today (All times HST)
Pennsylvania at Fresno State, 5 p.m.
Tomorrow (All times HST)
Illinois State at Fresno State, 5 p.m.
San Jose State at Saint Mary's, noon
Texas at Rice, 3 p.m.
Hawaii Pacific at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
Wednesday (All times HST)
Penn State at Fresno State, 5 p.m.
Louisiana Tech at Alabama, 1:30 p.m.
Matzusaka at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m. (exhibition)
Fresno St. 5, Hawaii 4
Hawaii AB R H BI Fresno AB R H BI Finegan ss 5 0 0 0 Haag 2b 5 2 2 1 Sansaver 1b 4 0 1 0 Patrick ss 4 0 2 2 Cook 1f 4 0 1 0 Davis lf 4 0 1 0 Russo 3b 4 1 1 0 McGehee 3b 5 0 2 2 Green rf 4 1 1 0 Pierce 1b 3 0 0 0 Bock c 3 1 2 1 Atrat ph 1 0 1 0 Mendoza dh 3 0 0 1 Smith pr1b 0 0 0 0 Montgomery cf 3 1 1 0 Sakamoto dh 4 0 1 0 Omura 2b 3 0 1 1 Marcelli c 4 0 2 0 Myers pr 0 1 0 0 Moore rf 3 0 0 0 Rothford ph 0 0 0 0 Beshears cf 4 2 2 0 Totals 33 4 8 3 Totals 37 5 13 5
Hawaii (12-5, 1-2) 020 100 100 -- 4 8 1 Fresno (6-12, 2-1) 001 000 022 -- 5 13 0
E -- Finegan. LOB -- Hawaii 6, Fresno 9. 2B -- Montgomery, Haag, Sakamoto. HR -- Bock (4). SB -- Smith (3). SH -- Bock, Omura, Rothford. SF -- Mendoza, Patrick.
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer 7 7 3 3 1 3 Carlsen 1 2/3 5 2 1 0 1 Ponomarenko 0 1 0 0 0 0 Fresno IP H R ER BB SO Glynn 6 7 4 4 1 3 Wolfenbarger 2 2/3 1 0 0 0 4
WP -- Wolfenbarger. Umpires -- HP: David Wiley, 1b: Jim Garman, 3b: Rick Saxton. T -- 2:41. A -- 2,807.
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