[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Dons defeat UH
for first series winSan Francisco benefits
from Hawaii’s missed
opportunities
San Francisco made good use of its scoring opportunities. Hawaii squandered too many of its scoring chances.
That was the difference yesterday in the nonconference-series finale, as the Dons (5-7) won their first series of the season with the 7-4 victory before 829 fans at Murakami Stadium.
"We battled. We just got beat. We just made enough mistakes to get beat," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We made bad pitches, made a couple of defensive mistakes. We battled at the plate, but we didn't get any 'Rainbows' (two-out hits).
"That's what wins games for you. We had our opportunities and had our two-out situations, where a base hit gets us the lead or gets us back in it."
It was a successful homecoming for Mid-Pacific Institute graduate Patrick McGuigan, who came on in relief in the fourth inning and finished the game. He allowed UH just three hits and one run to earn his first win of the season.
"It's a good win for the team. We've been on the road for a while and it's good for momentum next week," McGuigan said. "I was just hitting my spots with the fastball and slider, trying to keep the hitter off balance and get ground balls and let the defense do their job."
The Dons put a run on the board in the top of the first, when Mililani product Cy Donald sliced a one-strike pitch the opposite way into the left-field corner for a lead-off double. He moved to third and scored on consecutive ground balls to the right side by Andrew Smith and Armand Gaerlan.
The Rainbows (9-7) bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.
Robbie Wilder walked on four pitches, was sacrificed to second by Brian Finegan, took third on a balk by USF starter T.J. Franco and scored when Matt Inouye bounced a single through the hole to left. Inouye stole second, moved to third on Josh Green's groundout and scored on a line single to left by Rocky Russo.
USF drew even at 2-all in the top of the second on consecutive one-out singles by Scott Cousins and Jonnie Knoble, and Jon Norfolk's slow bouncer to short that scored Cousins.
The Dons broke the tie in the fourth, knocking UH starter Clary Carlsen out of the game in the process.
Joe Jacobitz led off with a single to center and was sacrificed to second by Royce Fukuroku, a Maui High School grad. Jacobitz stopped at third on Cousins' infield single. Finegan made a diving stop to keep the ball from going into center field, but could not get the throw to first in time. Knoble, with an excuse-me swing, hit a slow bouncer between the pitcher's mound and first. First baseman Andrew Sansaver fielded the ball, thought about throwing home, didn't, then got the throw to Carlsen covering first too late as Jacobitz scored. When Norfolk lined an RBI-single to center for a 4-2 USF lead, that was it for Carlsen.
"Clary was struggling with his angle today," Trapasso said. "When he does that, he tries to come over the top too much. He's usually up in the zone. His fastball doesn't have the sink. He's a sinker, slider guy."
Darrell Fisherbaugh came out of the bullpen, preventing further damage by striking out Smith and Gaerlan.
The Rainbows loaded the bases on consecutive one-out singles by Nate Thurber, Greg Kish and Isaac Omura as the rain started to fall. After a 32-minute delay, Wilder hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Thurber. McGuigan took over for Franco and got Finegan to ground to short for a force play at second, ending the threat.
Norfolk's lead-off double in the seventh led to USF regaining a two-run lead 5-3. He scored when Fisherbaugh fielded his bunt up the third-base line and threw the ball past first base.
Hawaii got the run back in the bottom of the inning, which started with Finegan's one-out single to left. Inouye was hit by a pitch and a wild pitch by McGuigan advanced the runners up a base. Finegan scored on Green's grounder to second.
The 'Bows loaded the bases on a walk and hit batter, but Thurber flied out to center to end the inning.
San Francisco came right back with two more runs in the eighth for a 7-4 lead.
Fukuroku doubled to left to start the inning, took third on a passed ball and scored on a balk. Cousins then walked, advanced to second on a wild pickoff throw to first by Inouye, took third on a groundout, and scored on Norfolk's bloop double down the right-field line.
"They executed very well today," Trapasso said. "When they needed to move a runner up, they did it. They got it done and we didn't."
Note: UH assistant coach Brian Green and his wife, Becky, are the proud parents of their first child, daughter Emily Rae, born Thursday.
USF 7, Hawaii 4
E--Gaerlan; Inouye; Fisherbaugh. DP--Hawaii 1. LOB--USF9, Hawaii 10. 2B--Donald, Fukuroku, Norfolk 2. HBP--Fukuroku; Inouye; Sansaver. SH--Donald; Fukuroku; Finegan. SF--Wilder. SB--Gaerlan; Inouye 2.
USF AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Donald dh 4 1 1 0 Wilder cf 3 1 0 1 Smith 3b 5 0 0 0 Finegan ss 4 1 1 0 Gaerlan ss 5 0 1 1 Inouye c 4 1 2 1 Genung 1b 4 0 1 0 Green rf 5 0 1 1 Jacobitz lf 4 1 1 0 Russo 3b 4 0 1 1 Fukuroku 2b 3 1 1 0 Sansaver 1b 3 0 0 0 Cousins rf 4 3 2 0 Thurber dh 4 1 1 0 Knoble cf 4 0 2 1 Kish lf 4 0 3 0 Norfolk c 4 1 3 3 Omura 2b 4 0 1 0 Totals 37 7 12 5 Totals 35 4 10 4 USF (5-7) 110 200 120 -- 7 12 1 Hawaii (9-7) 200 100 100 -- 4 10 2
WP--Mcguigan. HBP--by McGuigan (Inouye); by McGuigan (Sansaver); by McDowell (Fukuroku). BK--Franco 3; Fisherbaugh. PB--Inouye. Umpires--Keoki Torres (home), Mike Evans (first), Jim LeBeau (third). T--3:19. A--829.
USF IP H R ER BB SO Franco 3.2 7 3 3 1 4 McGuigan (W, 1-2) 5.1 3 1 1 1 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Carlsen (L, 2-3) 3.1 9 4 4 0 0 Fisherbaugh 3.2 2 3 3 2 5 McDowell 1.2 1 0 0 1 1 Olsen 0.1 0 0 0 0 0