FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brian Bock eluded the tag of Fresno State shortstop Chris Patrick and was safe stealing second base last night.
The Hawaii Rainbow baseball team clinched a Western Athletic Conference series for the first time in the Mike Trapssso era with a 7-5 victory over Fresno State last night at Murakami Stadium. ’Bows earn series win
WAC standingsBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe last time UH won a WAC series was May 17-19, 2001, when the 'Bows swept Hawaii-Hilo in the Vulcans' final series in the conference. They had gone 15 series since without coming out on top.
Chris George pitched his second consecutive strong game. He gave up six hits, but held the Bulldogs hitless from Brandon Marcelli's one-out double in the second until Marcelli singled in the seventh, 18 batters later. He walked none and struck out five.
Brent Cook and Brian Bock, who is 9-for-15 (.600) against FSU (21-19, 7-7 WAC), each had three hits to pace Hawaii's 11-hit attack. Bock and Isaac Omura each drove in two runs.
The 'Bows had to survive a ninth-inning FSU rally when the Bulldogs loaded the bases against Justin Cayetano and scored on a single, passed ball, error and another single before Guy McDowell fanned Kent Sakamoto to end the game.
"I like that situation. I get pumped and stay aggressive with all my pitches," said McDowell.
"Obviously we won and that's the important thing," said Trapasso. "We played the ninth afraid to make a mistake instead of smelling the win. We shot ourselves in the foot all game, but fortunately Chris pitched well tonight. Again, it was the changeup that set things up for Chris."
The Bulldogs struck first with two out in the opening inning. Scott Beshears and Casey McGehee singled to right on the first pitch they saw from George. Beshears advanced to third on McGehee's hit and scored on a wild pitch.
Jaziel Mendoza's line double into the left-field corner led to a run in the second as UH pulled into a 1-1 tie. Mendoza moved to third on Matt Inouye's grounder to the right side and scored on Bock's line single to center.
The Rainbows (22-19, 4-13 WAC) broke the tie with two runs in the third, an inning that began with Bock lining a double to left-center field and moving to third on Omura's single to left.
Tim Montgomery then hit a slow bouncer toward third that Beshears did not field cleanly for an attempt on Bock at the plate, then threw wildly past first base as Omura took third and Montgomery second. Beshears then speared Finegan's sharp grounder and threw to first for the first out as the runners held.
FSU coach Mike Batesole brought in left-hander David Griffin to face the left-hand hitting Andrew Sansaver and it worked as Sansaver fanned on three pitches. Batesole then ordered Cook intentionally walked, loading the bases. However, Griffin also walked Rocky Russo to force in the second run of the inning.
George pitched out of trouble, partially of his own doing, in the top of the fifth. With one out he hit Tory Davis with a 2-2 pitch. Chase Moore followed with a six-hopper toward third that Cook threw past first for a two-base error, leaving FSU runners at second and third.
With the infield halfway in, George got Ryan Haag to ground out to Sansaver at first, and, following words of advice from pitching coach Chad Konishi, fanned Chris Patrick on three pitches.
"Coach just told me to stay within myself, don't overthrow and remember what we were trying to do," said George. "The key to my last two series has been the change. I can throw it in any situation and save my slider for later."
The 'Bows created some breathing room for the senior right-hander with a four-run sixth inning that upped the lead to 7-1.
Sansaver beat out a perfect bunt up the third-base line to start the inning and took second on Cook's single to right. Both runners advanced on Russo's one bouncer to second against FSU's third pitcher, Jonathan Wiebe.
Batesole then had Mendoza walked intentionally to load the bases, but Wiebe hit Inouye with his first pitch, sending Sansaver home. Wiebe then walked Bock on a 3-1 pitch to force Cook across the plate. Omura followed with a first-pitch line single to center that scored Mendoza and Inouye.
The series concludes with a 1:05 p.m. game today as the Rainbows attempt to sweep a series from the Bulldogs for the first time. Keahi Rawlins will start on the mound for UH.
Hawaii 7, Fresno State 5
Fresno St. AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Haag 2b 5 1 1 1 Finegan ss 5 0 1 0 Patrick ss 4 1 0 0 Sansaver 1b 3 1 1 0 Beshears 3b 5 1 3 1 Cook 3b 4 1 3 0 McGehee 1b 5 0 2 0 Russo dh 4 0 0 1 Sakamoto dh 5 0 0 0 Mendoza lf 3 2 1 0 Smith cf 4 1 1 0 Inouye rf 3 1 0 1 Marcelli c 4 0 2 0 Bock c 4 1 3 2 Davis 1f 3 1 1 0 Omura 2b 4 1 2 2 Moore rf 4 0 0 0 Montgomery cf 4 0 0 1 Totals 39 5 10 2 Totals 34 7 11 7
Fresno State 100 000 004 -- 5 10 1 Hawaii 010 204 00X -- 7 11 3 E -- Beshears, Cook 2, George. DP -- Hawaii 1. LOB -- Fresno St. 9, Hawaii 12. 2B -- McGehee, Marcelli, Mendoza, Bock 2. SH -- Sansaver. SB -- Bock. CS -- Inouye.
Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Glynn (L, 2-6) 3 1/3 7 3 2 1 1 Griffin 1 2/3 1 0 0 3 1 Wiebe 1/3 2 2 2 0 0 Edwards 2/3 1 2 2 2 0 Garza 2 0 0 0 0 0
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO George (W, 6-5) 8 6 1 1 0 5 Cayetano 2/3 4 4 2 1 1 McDowell (S, 2) 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 WP -- George. HBP -- Davis (by George), Inouye (by Edwards), Sansaver (by Garza). Umpires -- HP: Jim LeBeau. 1b: Bill Speck. 3b: Joe Burleson. T -- 2:52. A -- 2,738.
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WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 16 1 .941 -- 37 5 Nevada 9 4 .692 5 20 18 Fresno St. 7 7 .500 8 21 19 San Jose St. 6 11 .353 10 20 21 x-Louisiana Tech 6 12 .333 10 1/2 13 24 Hawaii 4 13 .235 12 22 19 x-also has one nonconference tie
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Louisiana Tech 5, San Jose State 1
Rice 3, Nevada 0
Hawaii 7, Fresno State 5
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