’Bows take bite
out of BulldogsWAC standings
Chris George and Clary Carlsen combined on a four hitter as Hawaii defeated Louisiana Tech 8-1 last night at Murakami Stadium to even the Western Athletic Conference series at one win apiece.
The Rainbows (27-24, 8-18) broke a four-game losing streak, much to the delight of the 2,484 fans in attendance, the third largest crowd of the season. The 'Bows, who had 12 hits, but never had a big inning, but just kept nibbling away by putting a run or two on the scoreboard in six of the eight innings they batted.
The series and final homestand of the season conclude today with the first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
"We just felt we had something to prove after only getting three hits Friday," said Matt Inouye, who was 2-for-3 with a run batted in. "No one said much, but we knew what we had to do, come out and play hard."
George went 7 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and one run. He struck out eight and walked three, two in the eighth sandwiching an infield single by pinch hitter Ben Haddox to load the bases with two down. Carlsen came to the rescue by getting Fairon Allen to ground to short for the inning-ending force play at second base.
"I just wanted to finish it off for Georgie, who pitched so well tonight. Nobody needed those runs to score," said Carlsen who wrapped up the game with a perfect ninth.
The Bulldogs (17-31-1, 9-17) managed one hit in each of the first three innings. After Ryan Jackson's double to start the third inning, George retired 16 of the next 17 Louisiana Tech batters.
"I think I had a little better stuff than I did in Reno (his last start), but I also had a little bit of luck, as they hit the ball right at people tonight," George said. "I felt good coming out of the bullpen, but it still takes me a couple of innings to get in a groove."
Brian Finegan lit up the scoreboard quickly for the Rainbows when he belted Louisiana Tech starter Adam Kirkendall's third pitch off the yellow screen attached to the left-field foul pole for his second home run of the season.
The Bulldogs responded with a run in the top of the second to tie the score at 1-1. Kyle Humphreys lined a double into the left-field corner, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Jody Wood's ground out.
Matt Inouye tripled into the left-field corner to start the second inning and scored on Brian Bock's sacrifice fly to right to put UH ahead 2-1.
With the runners on the move in the fourth, Inouye bounced a one-ball pitch into left field scoring Cook, with Mendoza stopping at second.
Omura followed by bouncing an RBI single into right field, scoring Mendoza. Inouye also tried to score but was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Fairon Allen.
Hawaii upped the lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning on Mendoza's two-run triple to left-center field that finished Kirkendall for the night after 88 pitches.
Cook started another run-producing inning in the seventh with another single to center. He advanced to second on a passed ball, stole third and scored when Mendoza chopped a ball into right over the drawn-in Bulldog infield, giving UH a 7-1 lead.
The final run in the eighth came when Isaac Omura singled and eventually scored on Sansaver's single to left.
"This was our most complete game of the year in all phases of the game," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.
"I'm proud of them because I got into them after Friday night's game and told them they had too much respect for the game to play that way."
Hawaii 8, Louisiana Tech 1
LaTech AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Haygood 2b 3 0 0 0 Finegan ss 5 2 3 1 Haddox ph2b 1 0 1 0 Sansaver 1b 4 0 1 1 Brandon cf 3 0 1 0 Cook 3b 5 2 2 0 Sabatini phcf 0 0 0 0 Russo dh 3 1 1 0 Allen rf 4 0 0 0 Mendoza lf 3 1 2 3 Robinson ss 3 0 0 0 Inouye rf 3 1 2 1 Humphreys 1b 3 1 1 0 Bock c 3 0 0 1 Emfinger 1b 1 0 0 0 Montgomery cf 3 0 0 0 Spangler dh 4 0 0 0 Omura 2b 4 1 2 1 Wood 3b 2 0 0 1 Dodson ph3b 1 0 0 0 Walker lf 2 0 0 0 Alford phlf 1 0 0 0 Jackson c 2 0 1 0 Mims c 0 0 0 0 Total 30 1 4 1 Total 33 8 12 8
Louisiana Tech 010 000 000 -- 1 4 2 Hawaii 110 220 11x -- 8 12 0 E -- Wood 2. LOB -- Tech 5; Hawaii 7. 2B--Humphreys (5), Jackson (9), Finegan (17). 3B-- Mendoza (2), Inouye (2). HR-- Montgomery (2). SH -- Sansaver. SF--Bock. SB--Brandon (18), Cook 2 (13). CS -- Haygood (5).
Louisiana Tech IP H R ER BB SO Kirkendall L, 3-9 4 2/3 7 6 6 3 5 Herron 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 1 Guillot 1 1/3 3 2 0 0 1 Chedister 2/3 1 0 0 0 0
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO George W, 8-6 7 2/3 4 1 1 3 10 Carlsen 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 WP--George 2. PB--Boyce 2.
Umpires -- HP: Jim LeBeau, 1B: Ron Ridd, 3B: Gus Rodriguez. T --2:33. A -- 2,484.
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WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 21 2 .913 -- 43 7 Nevada 15 7 .682 5.5 28 21 Fresno State 10 13 .435 11.0 25 26 San Jose State 8 14 .364 12.5 23 27 x-Louisiana Tech 9 17 .346 13.5 17 31 Hawaii 8 18 .308 14.5 27 24 x-also has one nonconference tie
Yesterday (Saturday)
Hawaii 8, Louisiana Tech 1
San Jose State 10, Fresno State 1
Rice 7, Nevada 4Today (Sunday)
Louisiana Tech at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m.
San Jose State at Fresno State
Rice at Nevada
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