[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Brian Finegan slid into second base as Northridge's Raymond Ravago tried to tag him yesterday.
CSUN beats UH,
takes series
The good feeling that came with winning their first game of the season Saturday night did not even last 24 hours for the Hawaii baseball team.
The Rainbows experienced another afternoon of the "Sunday Blues" before 804 fans at Rainbow Stadium yesterday. UH batters managed just four hits and only two after the second inning.
The Cal State Northridge Matadors (4-2) won the three-game, nonconference series by playing errorless ball and pounding out 14 hits in the 8-1 victory.
UH starter Steven Wright ran into trouble with his first pitch of the second inning. Keith Renno blasted the ball over both fences in left field for a leadoff homer.
John Voita and Michael Paulk followed with sharp singles to left and right, respectively. After Jesse Perez, who failed to sacrifice the runners up a base, was retired on a fly to left, Adam Fleener singled to right, scoring Voita and sending Paulk to third.
Paulk scored on Raymond Ravago's sacrifice fly to right. Wright's 24th and final pitch of the inning was lined over the left-field wall by Quinn Ciccarelli for a two-run homer and a 5-0 CSUN lead. Rich Olsen replaced Wright and fanned Drew Aguailar to end the long inning.
Did the Rainbows die after falling behind 5-0?
"We shouldn't have. That is not an indication of what we think we have here and it is not what we practice," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "Five runs in college baseball is nothing. We had eight at-bats left and, from a pitching standpoint, we only had one bad inning.
"We got away from our game, didn't bunt or hit-and-run when we were down by five and maybe we should have stayed with our game, because our guys got into a mindset of trying to hit home runs and we're not a home-run hitting team.
"We preach all the time to chip away, chip away when we're down early. We pitched well enough the rest of the way to stay in the game,
"This was not the type of effort we want or will tolerate and things are going to change."
Hawaii (1-5) got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Jaziel Mendoza singled to right, stole second, moved to third on an infield out and scored on Creighton Kahoali'i's ground-rule double to center.
Olsen then ran into trouble in the third when the Matadors loaded the bases with no outs on a Mark McCauley single, a swinging strikeout on a wild pitch that allowed Kenno to reach first and a perfect bunt up the third-base line by Voita. Olsen was able to hold CSUN to one run on an infield grounder, but UH still trailed by five runs, 6-1.
However, the Rainbow offense was stymied by CSUN starter Craig Baker, who allowed just two hits in five innings. The 'Bows were unable to take advanatge of leadoff walks in the fourth and fifth innings, with the runner still at first base when the third out was recorded.
Only three UH runners advanced past first base all afternoon and 12 of the last 13 batters were retired by CSUN relief pitchers.
CSUN reliever Nathan Hochgesong gave up a leadoff single to Brian Finegan to start the sixth, but Finegan only got as far as second on a steal.
A throwing error by Finegan on a ball into the hole at short and another one out later by Kahoali'i on a wide throw from third to first set up two unearned runs in the seventh. Singles by Paulk and Perez brought McCauley and Voita home for an 8-1 Matador lead.
For Wright, making his first start, it was a case of leaving too many balls up in the zone and the Matadors made him pay.
CSUN 8, Hawaii 1
E--Finegan; Mendoza; Kahoali'i. DP--CSUN 1; Hawaii 3. LOB--CSUN 8, Hawaii 5. 2B-- Ciccarelli; Kahoali'i. HR--Ciccarelli; Renno. SH--Aguailar. SF--Ravago. SB--Ciccarelli; Finegan; Mendoza. CS--Finegan.
CSUN AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Ciccarelli cf 4 1 2 2 Wilder cf 3 0 0 0 Aguailar dh 4 0 2 0 Finegan ss 3 0 1 0 McCauley 3b 5 1 1 0 Inouye c 3 0 0 0 Renno lf 5 2 1 1 Mendoza dh 4 1 1 0 Voita rf 5 2 3 0 Russo dh 3 0 0 0 Faulk 1b 5 1 3 1 Thurber ph 1 0 0 0 Perez ss 4 0 1 2 Sansaver 1b 4 0 0 0 Coit ph 1 0 0 0 Kahoali'i 3b 2 0 2 1 Hagstrom ss 0 0 0 0 Green rf 3 0 0 0 Fleener c 3 1 1 1 Magana 2b 3 0 0 0 Ravago 2b 3 0 0 1 Totals 39 8 14 8 Totals 29 1 4 1 CSUN (4-2) 051 000 200 -- 8 14 0 Hawaii (1-5) 010 000 000 -- 1 4 3
WP--Baker. WP--Wright; Olsen 2. HBP--by McDowell (Fleener). Umpires--Gary Montalbo (home), Don Greman (first), Jim LeBeau (third). T--2:43. A--804.
CSUN IP H R ER BB SO Baker (W, 1-0) 5 2 1 1 4 4 Hochgesang 2 2 0 0 0 2 Campbell 1 0 0 0 0 0 Rocchio 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Wright (L, 0-1) 1 2/3 6 5 5 0 0 Olsen 3 1/3 5 1 1 0 2 McDowell 2 2 2 0 1 2 Fisherbaugh 2 1 0 0 0 2
