[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Texas' Drew Stubbs slid safely into second under Hawaii's Brian Finegan in the top of the fourth inning last night.
Rainbows lack
third rally against
No. 5 LonghornsTexas tallies four runs in
the 11th -- including a three-run
homer -- to deny UH's upset bid
Texas overcame a pair of furious Hawaii rallies for a 13-9 win in 11 innings last night at Murakami Stadium.
The Longhorns scored the winning run on Nathan Warrick's line single to left that scored Seth Johnston, who struck out to start the inning, but reached second on a passed ball by catcher Creighton Kahoali'i, who recovered to throw wildly past first baseman Andrew Sansaver. David Maroul sacrificed Johnston to third, from where he scored easily.
"This is probably the best bad game you could have watched," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "I'm proud of our guys who battled and showed signs of having an offense and a plan at the plate. They made enough mistakes to let us back into it but we couldn't finish it."
Drew Stubbs made a third UH comeback difficult by belting a three-run homer over the left-center field fence to climax the big inning.
The Longhorns (2-0) held on in the bottom of the 11th behind All-American closer Houston Street to beat UH in a nonconference game before 2,814 fans.
Miscommunication between left fielder Jaziel Mendoza and center fielder Josh Green cost the Rainbows dearly last night after they had battled back from an 8-3 deficit to send the game into extra innings. With one out and Bobby Hudson on first after beating out a single to deep short, Dooley Prince sent a lazy fly to left-center field that the UH outfielders let drop between them for double.
Curtis Thigpen was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Taylor Teagarden drew a walk from UH closer Clary Carlsen to break the 8-8 tie.
The 'Bows (0-2) matched that run in the bottom of the inning when Sansaver drew a two-out walk and scored on Matt Inouye's double to the right-field alley.
The Rainbow bullpen was outstanding as Guy McDowell and Carlsen combined to hold the Longhorns to one run over 5 2/3 innings entering the 10th.
The first three Longhorns UH starter Rich Olsen faced in the first inning hit safely and eventually scored for a quick 3-0 lead.
Prince lined a soft single into left-center and held at third when Thigpen's drive to deep left-center field bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double. Teagarden followed with an opposite-field single to right that scored both runners. Teagarden took second on the throw home, moved to third and scored on an Olsen wild pitch.
The Rainbows responded with two runs an inning later. Mendoza walked to start the inning. On Rocky Russo's single to deep short, Michael Hollimon threw wildly past second trying for a force, allowing Mendoza and Russo to advance to third and second, respectively.
Mendoza scored on a wild pitch by Texas starter Sam LeCure. Russo took third and came home a two-out single to center by Green.
The Longhorns quickly increased their lead in the third as Thigpen deposited Olsen's second pitch over the left-center field wall. Olsen then grazed Teagarden with a 2-1 pitch. Teagarden took second on Hollimon's single that shortstop Brian Finegan made a diving stop on in the hole but had no play. J. D. Reininger lined a 1-2 pitch to center to score Teagarden, upping UT's lead to 5-2.
For the second consecutive night, the UH starting pitcher left after 3 1/3 innings.
