GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Ricky Bauer made his delivery against Fresno State's Chris Patrick last night. Bauer didn't give up a run in eight innings pitched to get the win.
Bauer shuts down Bulldogs Ricky Bauer pitched eight shutout innings and the Hawaii Rainbows won the opener of the three-game Western Athletic Conference series in front of 1,483 fans at Murakami Stadium last night.
The sophomore leads Hawaii
to a 3-0 win over Fresno State
in the series openerBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comIn defeating Fresno State 3-0, the Rainbows (21-19, 3-13 WAC) won the opener of a WAC series for the first time since last May.
Rich Olsen picked up the save, his first of the season, with a perfect ninth inning to preserve the Rainbows' second shutout of the year and drop the Bulldogs to 21-18 overall and 7-6 in the WAC.
Bauer gave up five hits, did not walk a batter and struck out seven, tying his career high. His final whiff came in the seventh on a pitch that crossed up batterymate Matt Inouye, who was also his catcher in high school.
"He called for a slider and I threw a fastball inside," said Bauer, who fanned Kyle Atrat for the first out in that inning with runners at second and third.
"It's a familiar feeling catching Ricky. It brings back memories," said Inouye. "The difference is his pitches have changed since high school. They are a lot more precise than before."
The starting pitchers, Bauer and FSU's Cody Smith, had things well in hand through the first five innings.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Jaziel Mendoza beat the throw to second base as Fresno State's Chris Patrick tried to make the tag last night.
Bauer, a sophomore, faced potential trouble in the second when singles by Casey McGehee and Kent Sakamoto put Bulldogs at first and third with one out. The 'Bows got out of the inning when Bauer fanned Brandon Marcelli then had his infielders turn the strikeout into a double play as McGehee was tagged out in a rundown when a double-steal attempt misfired.
Hawaii did not get its first hit until Rocky Russo bounced a two-out single to center in the fourth.
In the fifth, Isaac Omura grounded a double inches inside the third-base bag to start the inning, but his teammates were unable to advance him any further.
Smith fanned Tim Montgomery on a 3-2 pitch, retired Jaziel Mendoza on a pop to short and watched as Kevin Gilbride's high drive was caught by right fielder Scott Beshears with his back next to the wall.
The 'Bows broke the scoreless tie in a sixth inning that began when Brian Finegan guided a line drive into right field past the outstretched glove of first baseman Kyle Atrat. On Andrew Sansaver's sacrifice bunt toward third, McGehee's throw to second pulled Ryan Hagg off the bag, leaving UH with two on and no one out. Brent Cook then sacrificed the runners to second and third.
After Russo worked the count to 3-1, he was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Inouye then hit a high hopper toward the hole. FSU shortstop Chris Patrick fielded it and got the force-out at second, but Inouye beat the relay to first as Finegan scored.
Bauer extricated himself from a major problem in the seventh when Beshears singled and took third on McGehee's double to right-center field.
However, following a visit from pitching coach Chad Konishi, Bauer struck out Atrat, got Sakamoto on a line drive that Omura leaped high to stab at second and ended the inning by inducing Marcelli to ground out.
"Coach just said to make good pitches, hit my spots and start the first guy off with offspeed stuff to see if we can get him to roll over and hit a grounder," said Bauer. "I've been battling a cold and took some Tylenol before the game and that might have helped my arm. I feel fine now."
The Rainbows put some insurance on the board in the eighth. Cook tripled to right-center field to start the inning when Beshears and center fielder Joey Myers failed to communicate and the ball dropped between them and bounced to the wall.
Cook scored on Inouye's fielder's choice sacrifice bunt. He moved to second on Omura's single to left and scored on Mendoza's line single to right for a 3-0 UH lead.
Hawaii 3, Fresno State 0
Fresno St. AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Haag 2b 4 0 0 0 Finegan ss 3 1 1 0 Patrick ss 4 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 3 0 0 0 Beshears rf 4 0 1 0 Cook 3b 3 1 1 0 McGehee 3b 4 0 2 0 Russo dh 2 0 1 0 Atrat 1b 3 0 0 0 Inouye c 3 1 0 2 Sakamoto dh 3 0 1 0 Omura 2b 4 0 2 0 Marcelli c 3 0 1 0 Montgomery cf 4 0 0 0 Myers cf 3 0 0 0 Mendoza 1f 4 0 2 1 Davis 1f 3 0 0 0 Gilbride rf 4 0 0 0 Green rf 0 0 0 0 Totals 31 0 5 0 Totals 30 3 7 3
Fresno State 000 000 000 -- 0 5 1 Hawaii 000 001 02X -- 3 7 0 E -- McGehee. DP -- Hawaii 1. LOB -- Fresno St. 4, Hawaii 9. 2B -- McGehee, Omura, Mendoza. 3B -- Cook. SH -- Sansaver, Cook, Inouye. SB -- Inouye. CS -- Marcelli.
Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Smith (L, 6-4) 6 1/3 4 1 0 2 2 Griffin 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 Wiebe 0 0 0 0 0 0 Infante 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 Scott 1 3 2 2 0 0
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (W, 3-3) 8 5 0 0 0 7 Olsen (S, 1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 HBP -- Finegan (by Wiebe). Umpires -- HP: Joe Burleson. 1b: Jim LeBeau. 3b: Bill Speck. T -- 2:46. A -- 2,674.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 15 1 .938 -- 36 5 Nevada 9 3 .750 4 20 17 Fresno St. 7 6 .538 7 21 18 San Jose St. 6 10 .375 9 20 20 x-Louisiana Tech 5 12 .294 10.5 12 24 Hawaii 3 13 .188 12 21 19 x-also has one nonconference tie
Thursday
San Jose State 7, Lousiana Tech 0
Yesterday
San Jose State 3, Louisiana Tech 1
Rice 10, Nevada 5
Hawaii 3, Fresno State 0Today
Louisiana Tech at San Jose State
Nevada at Rice
Fresno State at Hawaii
UH Athletics
