[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Sansaver rescues
Hawaii
The Hawaii Rainbows rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning to edge the Florida International Golden Panthers 5-4 last night at Murakami Stadium.
Andrew Sansaver's sacrifice fly scored Matt Inouye with the winning run. Sansaver's fly ball was foul and was caught by left fielder Fernando Alvarez as he crashed into the wire fence. Alvarez did not make a throw and laid on the ground for several minutes after the game.
The comeback, witnessed by 1,087 fans, was the first of the season that resulted in a victory for the 'Bows, who were down 4-3 entering the bottom of the ninth.
"I wanted to win it bad. That's the challenge of baseball," Sansaver said. "People just dream about that situation. I battled and I got lucky."
Robbie Wilder started the rally with a bunt single over the pitcher's mound. He continued to second when FIU shortstop Luis Rivera's throw went into the UH dugout. One out later, Inouye drilled a 1-1 pitch from FIU's third pitcher, Derek DeCarlo, into the left-field corner for an RBI double to tie the game at 4-4.
Josh Green received an intentional walk and Creighton Kahoali'i walked on a full count to load the bases.
"The club showed some maturity and toughness in overcoming some mistakes early," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We were focused on competing and eliminating stupid mistakes, although we still made a couple mistakes."
The Golden Panthers had pushed across the go-ahead run in the ninth after sophomore right-hander Rich Olsen retired the first two batters. Eduardo Davila lined a 1-1 pitch to the left-center-field alley for a double. Rivera walked on a 3-1 pitch. Olsen then got two quick strikes on P.J. Lehmann, but the FIU third baseman grounded the next pitch off the glove of a diving Finegan into left field to score Davila.
Back-to-back doubles in the first inning by Brian Finegan and Inouye resulted in a 1-0 UH lead.
The Golden Panthers rallied in the fourth inning with three unearned runs and a 3-1 lead.
Lehmann singled to start the inning and moved to third one out later when UH third baseman Kahoali'i's throw to first on Jeff Skellenger's two-hopper was high for a two-base error.
UH starter Stephen Bryant retired Fernando Alvarez on strikes for the second out, but Adrian Casanova reached for an outside pitch and punched it down the right-field line for a two-run double.
Casanova took third when Kahoali'i bobbled Dennis Diaz's grounder and scored on Brian Aragon's single to right.
Nate Thurber got one back for UH with a leadoff home run over both fences in left on a 1-2 pitch. One-out walks to Schafer Magana and Wilder finished Edwards.
He was replaced by right-hander Danny Hernandez. He retired Finegan on a grounder to short as the runners moved up a base, but gave up an RBI single to right by Inouye that scored Magana, tying the score at 3-3.
The Rainbows would not get another hit until Wilder led off the ninth inning with his bunt single.
Bryant pitched the first six innings. The freshman right-hander gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three. Other than the fifth inning, only two FIU runners reached second base against Bryant.
Hernandez also was enjoying success. After hitting Kahoali'i with a pitch to start the fifth inning, Hernandez retired 11 consecutive 'Bows before walking Greg Kish with two out in the bottom of the eighth.
Hawaii 5, Florida International 4
E--Rivera; Finegan; Kahoali'i 2. DP--Hawaii 1. LOB--FIU 8, Hawaii 11. 2B-- Rivera; Lopez; Casanova; Davilla; Finegan; Inouye 2. HR--Thurber. HBP--Kahoali'i. SH--Finegan; Sansaver. SF--Sansaver. SB--Skellenger; Kish; Magana. CS--Diaz.
FIU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Rivera ss 4 0 1 0 Wilder cf 3 1 1 0 Lehmann 3b 5 1 2 1 Finegan ss 4 1 1 0 Lopez 1b 4 0 1 0 Inouye c 4 1 3 3 Skellenger dh 3 1 0 0 Green rf 4 0 1 0 Otaro pr 0 0 0 0 Kahoali'i 3b 2 0 0 0 Alvarez lf 4 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 3 0 0 1 Casanova c 4 1 1 2 Thurber dh 3 1 1 1 Diaz cf 4 0 0 0 Kish lf 2 0 0 0 Aragon rf 4 0 1 1 Magana 2b 2 1 0 0 Davilla 2b 3 1 1 0 Mendoza ph 1 0 0 0 Castillo 2b 0 0 0 0 Totals 35 4 7 4 Totals 28 5 7 5 FIU (1-6) 000 300 001 -- 4 7 1 Hawaii (3-5) 100 200 002 -- 5 7 3
HBP--by Hernandez (Kahoali'i). Umpires--Gary Montalbo (home), Don Groman (first), Jim LeBeau (third). T--3:32. A--1,087.
FIU IP H R ER BB SO Edwards 3.1 4 3 3 7 4 Hernandez 4.1 1 0 0 1 5 DeCarlo (L, 0-2) 1 2 2 2 2 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bryant 6.0 5 3 0 1 3 Olsen (W, 1-0) 3.0 2 1 1 3 5
