[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Hawaii’s Carlsen
6-hits Bulldogs
RUSTON, La. » Clary Carlsen pitched his first complete game as a Rainbow to lead Hawaii to an 8-1 win over Louisiana Tech in a Western Athletic Conference game yesterday.
The victory in the rubber match of the three-game meeting gave UH its first series win in three visits to J.C. Love Field.
Carlsen threw a six-hitter. The senior right-hander did not walk a batter, struck out four and threw 75 of his 109 pitches for strikes.
"It was Clary's best outing of the year. You could see he was going to be on his game right from the first inning," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "He had a great (arm) angle going and his fastball was live and sinking for strikes. We knew if we could score a few runs we would be all right."
For the second consecutive game, the Rainbows (17-10, 3-3 WAC) produced 16 hits, including home runs by Rocky Russo and Greg Kish.
The offensive support made Carlsen's job much easier. The Bulldogs (11-18, 2-4) managed just two hits over the last five innings and no Louisiana Tech runner advanced past second base after the third inning.
The 'Bows took advantage of a shaky start by senior right-hander Brad Chister to take a 4-0 lead after two innings.
Brian Finegan led off the game with a single to left, took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a balk and scored on Matt Inouye's single to left.
Hawaii put three runs on the board after two were out in the second. Creighton Kahoali'i singled to left, stole second and advanced to third on Isaac Omura's single to right. Finegan legged out a slow roller toward third for an infield single as Kahoali'i scored.
On the play, Louisiana Tech third baseman Steve Winters threw wildly past first, allowing Omura to advance to third and Finegan to second. Omura scored and Finegan took third on a wild pitch. Kish extended his hitting streak to 12 consecutive games with a double to left, scoring Finegan.
The Bulldogs scored an unearned run in the third when Brandon Haygood reached on a fielder's choice, stole second, took third on a ground out and scored on a Jeff Walker single.
After two quiet innings offensively against reliever Matt Lacy, Hawaii enjoyed another three-run inning in the fifth.
Russo blasted his third home run of the season over the right-field wall with one out to start the scoring. Andrew Sansaver followed with a single to center and took third on Nate Thurber's double into the left-field corner. Omura then brought both runners home with a double into the right-field corner.
Kish made the final score 8-1 with a home run, his first of the year, over the center-field wall to start the sixth inning.
"We probably could have scored more, should have scored more, but we worked the formula for the third game of a series pretty well," Trapasso said. "We scored early and separated ourselves by continuing to score runs."
The win also means the Rainbows attained their goal of coming home with at least a .500 (3-3) road trip.
"It is important just to stay in the conference race and to keep playing well," Trapasso said. "To do that when Rice is one of the teams your playing is important because you get off to a good start in the league with confidence."
By the time the 'Bows assembled in the J.C. Love Field parking lot for the hour-and-a-half ride to Shreveport, La., Trapasso had put the road trip on the back burner.
"Now, I can starting thinking about how we can beat (Matt) Durkin on Friday," he said.
Hawaii opens a three-game league series with San Jose State at Murakami Stadium on Friday. Durkin, a preseason All-America pick, is expected to start for the Spartans.
Notes: Omura (6-for-8, .750), Russo and Kish (both 5-for-12, .417) and Thurber and Kahoali'i (both 4-for-10) were the top UH hitters in the series. ... Three more 'Bows were plunked by pitches yesterday, raising the season total to 49.
WAC standings
Yesterday
Conference All games W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 7 1 .875 -- 19 6 .760 Hawaii 3 3 .500 3 17 10 .630 Nevada 1 1 .500 3 13 13 .500 San Jose State 3 5 .375 4 13 12 .520 Louisiana Tech 2 4 .333 4 11 18 .379 Fresno State 0 2 .000 4 12 18 .400
Hawaii 8, Louisiana Tech 1
San Jose State 19, Nevada 7
Rice 6, Fresno State 5
Today
San Jose State at Nevada
Fresno State at Rice
Hawaii 8, Louisiana Tech 1
Hawaii AB R H BI LaTech AB R H BI Finegan ss 6 2 3 1 Haygood 2b 4 1 0 0 Kish lf 3 1 2 2 Holik ss 4 0 0 0 Inouye cf 4 0 1 1 Walker lf/rf 4 0 1 1 Green rf 5 0 1 0 Winters 3b 2 0 0 0 Russo 3b 4 1 2 1 Lilley ph/3b 2 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 1 0 Alford cf 2 0 0 0 Thurber dh 3 1 1 0 Wade ph/lf 2 0 0 0 Kahoali'i c 5 1 2 0 Hudson dh/p 4 0 2 0 Omura 2b 4 1 3 2 Spangler 1b 2 0 1 0 Bascle 1b 2 0 0 0 Laird rf 2 0 0 0 McHale cf 1 0 1 0 Dugdale c 3 0 1 0 Totals 38 8 16 7 Totals 36 7 11 4 Hawaii 130 031 000 -- 8 16 2 Louisiana Tech 001 000 000 -- 1 6 1 E--Finegan 2 (11), Winters (17). DP--LaTech 1. LOB--Hawaii 13, LaTech 6. 2B--Kish (5), Thurber (9), Kahoali'i (5), Omura (3), Hudson (4). HR--Kish (2), Russo (4). SB--Kahoali'i (5), Haygood (15), Walker (4). CS--Kish (4). SH--Kish (5).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Carlsen (W, 5-3) 9.0 6 1 0 0 4 LaTech IP H R ER BB SO Chedister (L, 0-1) 1.2 7 4 4 1 1 Lacy 3.2 7 4 4 0 4 Alsup 1.2 1 0 0 4 1 Tucker 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Hudson 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 WP--Hudson (2), Chedister 2 (5), Alsup 2 (7). BK--Chedister (2). HBP--by Chedister (Inouye), by Lacy (Thurber), by Alsup (Inouye). Umpires--Jay McKeown (home), Dale Luker (first), Chris Magouirk (third). T--2:24. A--387.
