’Bows win
seventh straightWAC standings
The Hawaii Rainbows made their hits count last night following a night in which they could not deliver the timely hit until extra innings.
The Rainbows won their second consecutive Western Athletic Conference series with a 9-2 triumph over the San Jose State Spartans behind the pitching of Chris George and Nick Ponomarenko at Murakami Stadium. It was the 10th consecutive conference road loss for San Jose State (20-23, 6-13 WAC).
The Rainbows won their sixth consecutive WAC game and seventh overall. It is the longest winning streak for a UH team since the 1998 'Bows won 10 consecutive games early in the season.
The 1,668 fans were barely settled in their seats when the Rainbows (25-19, 7-13 WAC) took control of the game with their biggest inning since scoring six runs in the fourth against Hawaii-Hilo on March 2.
The Rainbows jumped on San Jose State starter Frank Esposito for five hits, including a pair of doubles, in that six-run second. The Spartans committed two errors, one of which aided the UH scoring considerably.
Jaziel Mendoza started the inning by driving Esposito's first pitch to left and turning it into a double with hustle. On Brian Bock's grounder to first, Bock was safe and SJSU first baseman Jordan Bergstrom's throw to third was high, allowing Mendoza to slide in safely. Matt Inouye lined a 1-2 pitch to left, scoring Mendoza with the game's first run, with Bock stopping at second.
Bergstrom then bobbled Tim Montgomery's sacrifice-bunt attempt twice before throwing wildly to first. Bock scored, Inouye raced to third and Montgomery ended up at second on the error. Inouye then scored and Montgomery took third on Schafer Magana's grounder to second.
After Brian Finegan was out on a foul pop to Bergstrom, Andrew Sansaver singled to left, scoring Montgomery, then legged it all the way home on Brent Cook's double into the left-field corner. Cook scored the sixth run on a single to center by Rocky Russo.
Mendoza, who missed a month of action with a stress fracture of the fibula in his right leg, has contributed key hits and played a solid left field since his return to the lineup.
"It was so good when I could finally sprint again and get out there and play with the team, be a part of the team," said Mendoza. "On the double, I was just looking for a pitch to drive and they were playing me way over (in the outfield)."
Rainbow coach Mike Trapasso said, "It's no coincidence we have run off some victories with Jaziel in the lineup. He is a sparkplug, gets timely hits and gives us some pop from the left side in the middle of the order that we were missing."
Hawaii upped the score to 8-0 in the fourth inning when Cook drew a one-out walk and came around to score on Russo's one-hop double off the right-field wall. Russo moved to third on a groundout and scored on Bock's high bouncer up the middle. Second baseman David Pierson grabbed the ball in short center but had no play at first.
The Spartans reached George for a run in the fifth when Nathan Corrick beat out an infield single to deep short, advanced to score on a groundout, and scored on Pierson's ground single to right.
UH's final run came in the fifth when Montgomery singled to short center, moved to third on a throwing error by SJSU third baseman Kevin Frandsen, and scored on Sansaver's sacrifice fly to left.
Pinch hitter Ruben Martinez lined a double into the left field corner to start the eighth inning for the Spartans. He took third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch, George's last pitch of the game.
"Chris was at 100 pitches to start the inning and I told him to get it done in 15. I think the wild pitch was his 113th. Nick came in and got the job done," said Trapasso.
Nick Ponomarenko arrived from the bullpen to end the inning by fanning Markum King on three pitches.
Keahi Rawlins will start today's series finale for the 'Bows. The first pitch is at 1:05 p.m.
Hawaii 9, San Jose State 2
SJSU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Contreras ss 4 0 0 0 Finegan ss 5 0 0 0 Styles ss 1 0 1 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 2 2 Pierson 2b 5 0 2 1 Cook 3b 4 2 1 1 Frandsen 3b 1 0 0 0 Russo dh 4 1 2 2 Martinez ph/3b 1 1 1 0 Mendoza lf 4 1 2 0 Bergstrom 1b 4 0 1 0 Bock c 4 1 1 1 Niheu ph 1 0 0 0 Inouye rf 4 1 2 1 Guerra dh 3 0 0 0 Montgomery cf 3 2 1 0 Bates c 2 0 0 0 Magana 2b 4 0 0 1 Bautista phc 0 0 0 0 Kilby 1b 3 0 0 0 King lf 1 0 0 0 Corrick cf 4 1 3 0 Heuerman rf 3 0 0 0 Sargent ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 34 2 8 1 Totals 36 9 11 8
San Jose State 000 010 010 -- 2 8 3 Hawaii 060 210 00x -- 9 11 0 E -- Frandsen 2, Bergstrom. DP -- Hawaii 1. LOB -- San Jose St. 11 Hawaii 6. 2B -- Martinez, Sansaver, Cook, Russo, Mendoza. SH -- Montgomery. SF -- Sansaver. SB -- Inouye. CS -- Finegan.
San Jose State IP H R ER BB SO Esposito (L, 1-3) 4 9 8 4 1 3 Dewing 4 2 1 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO George (W, 7-5) 7 2/3 6 2 2 2 7 Ponomarenko 1 1/3 2 0 0 0 2 WP -- George 3. HBP -- Frandsen (by George), Frandsen (by George), Guerra (by George), Martinez (by Ponomarenko). BK -- George. Umpires -- HP: Jim LeBeau. 1b: David Wiley. 3b: Jim Garman. T -- 2:45. A -- 2,891.
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WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 19 2 .905 -- 40 7 Nevada 12 4 .750 4.5 23 18 Fresno State 7 10 .412 10 21 22 Hawaii 7 13 .350 11.5 25 19 San Jose State 6 13 .316 12 20 23 x-Louisiana Tech 6 15 .286 13 13 27 x-also has one nonconference tie
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