[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Fisherbaugh closes
out Spartans
Hawaii evened its three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series with San Jose State at one win apiece with a 3-0 victory last night in front of 1,772 fans at Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbows had to survive a one-out, bases-loaded situation in the Spartans' ninth inning, but freshman Darrell Fisherbaugh came out of the bullpen to get the final two outs and save the victory for Stephen Bryant.
Hawaii scored all its runs in the seventh inning of the well-pitched game.
"Going into the seventh inning with no score, everything, every hit, every mistake, is magnified, because any one hit can win the game and any one mistake can cost you the game," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Bryant never seemed to be in trouble, even with the walks. He always had the pitch when he needed it."
Creighton Kahoali'i hit a one-out double to the alley in right-center to start a rally as the 'Bows broke a scoreless tie in the seventh. Isaac Omura reached on a single when Spartan second baseman David Pierson couldn't hold his looping liner behind the bag at second.
Kahoali'i, who had to hold second on Omura's hit, scored when Brian Finegan grounded a 3-2 pitch into left field. Greg Kish then doubled to left on a 2-2 pitch, scoring Omura and Finegan for a 3-0 UH lead.
"My first two at-bats I was out in front on fastballs. I wanted to stay back and let the ball travel as far as possible," Kish said. "The pitch turned out to be an off-speed pitch, which was right in my plan. It couldn't have been a better pitch for my plan."
Kish's ball rolled all the way to the wall because the Spartan outfielders were shifted around to the right. And, on the double by Kahoali'i, Travis Bectel, the SJSU right fielder, was playing shallower than most opponents do and could not catch up the the line drive.
The starting pitchers, UH's Bryant and SJSU's Corey Cabral, sailed through the first four innings unscathed.
Eight of the 12 outs Bryant recorded were on ground balls and he was helped by a sinking line drive that second baseman Omura caught inches off the turf and turned into a double play in the first inning. Bryant also benefited from ground balls his infielders turned into twin killings in the second and fourth innings.
"I went with my changeup, kept the ball down and got ground balls," said Bryant, who was not happy with the five walks he issued because they used up his pitch count.
Cabral induced Rainbow hitters to hit the ball on the ground so often, eight of the first nine UH outs came off ground balls. He switched gears in the fourth with strikeouts on both sides of Jaziel Mendoza's single to center. Mendoza was thrown out trying to steal second.
The Spartans threatened in the fifth with one out when Nate Corrick was hit by a pitch and took second on Josh Lansford's infield single in the hole at short. The runners then advanced a base on a passed ball. But, with the UH infield in, Bectel hit a bouncer that Finegan stopped in the hole as he slid to his knees. From that position, Finegan threw a strike to catcher Kahoali'i in plenty of time to tag out Corrick.
Mark Bautista then grounded out to end the inning.
Hawaii had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, but Cabral worked out of the jam.
Finegan started things off with a single to center, the first time Hawaii's leadoff batter reached base, and moved to second on Kish's sacrifice bunt.
SJSU third baseman Kevin Frandsen fielded Matt Inouye's bouncer deep behind the bag and threw wildly to first. Finegan, who had to hold on the play, advanced to third and Inouye reached second. Mendoza was intentionally walked.
Cabral then got Rocky Russo to fly out to short right, forcing the runners to hold. First baseman Brandon Fromm then dove flat out to grab Andrew Sansaver's bid for a hit down the right-field line and won the race to the bag for the final out.
Bryant walked Corrick with two down in the seventh. Lansford singled Corrick to third, but Bryant ended the threat by getting Bectel to fly out to center.
After issuing a one-out walk to pinch hitter Darrell Sales in the eighth, Bryant was replaced by Guy McDowell. Ryan Angel singled to center, with Sales stopping at second. The runners moved up a base on Anthony Contreras' ground out, but McDowell got out of the inning on a great play by Omura.
On Frandsen's grounder up the middle, the UH second baseman went to his knees to make the stop behind second base and had enough on his throw to first from that position to just get Frandsen.
Bryant allowed three hits in 7 1/3 innings, but walked five and hit a batter.
Clary Carlsen will start for UH in today's 1:05 p.m. finale. San Jose State has not announced its starter.
WAC standings
Conference All games W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 10 1 .909 -- 23 6 .793 Hawaii 4 4 .500 4 1/2 18 11 .621 San Jose State 5 6 .455 5 15 14 .517 Louisiana Tech 3 5 .375 5 1/2 12 20 .375 Nevada 1 4 .200 6 14 16 .467 Fresno State 1 4 .200 6 13 20 .394
San Jose State has one non-conference tie.Friday
Rice 16, Nevada 1
Louisiana Tech 11, Fresno St. 8
San Jose State 5, Hawaii 4, 10 innings.
Yesterday
Rice 15, Nevada 3
Fresno State 11, Louisiana Tech 3
Hawaii 3, San Jose State 0
Today
Rice at Nevada
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State
San Jose State at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m.
Hawaii 3, San Jose St. 0
SJSU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Angel lf 3 0 1 0 Finegan ss 4 1 3 1 Contreras ss 2 0 0 0 Kish rf 3 0 1 2 Frandsen 3b 4 0 0 0 Inouye cf 4 0 1 0 Fromm 1b 3 0 1 0 Mendoza lf 3 0 1 0 Corrick cf 2 0 0 0 Russo 3b 4 0 0 0 Lansford dh 4 0 3 0 Sansaver 1b 4 0 1 0 Becktel rf 4 0 1 0 Thurber dh 3 0 0 0 Bautista c 3 0 0 0 Kahoali'i c 2 1 1 0 Kilby ph 1 0 0 0 Omura 2b 3 1 1 0 Pierson 2b 2 0 0 0 Sales ph 0 0 0 0 Martinez 2b 0 0 0 0 Anderson ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 29 0 6 0 Totals 30 3 9 3 SJSU 000 000 000 -- 0 6 1 Hawaii 000 000 30x -- 3 9 0 E--Frandsen. DP--SJSU 1, Hawaii 3. LOB--SJSU 9, Hawaii 7. 2B--Kish, Inouye, Kahoali'i. SH--Kish, Kahoali'i. CS--Contreras, Mendoza.
SJSU IP H R ER BB SO Cabral (L, 4-4) 8.0 9 3 3 2 7 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bryant (W, 4-2) 7.1 3 0 0 5 2 McDowell 1.0 3 0 0 1 0 Fisherbaugh (S, 4) 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 HBP--by Bryant (Corrick). PB--Kahoali'i. Umpires--Dale Luker (home), Gary Montalbo (first), Charles Lyon (third). T--2:45. A--2,911.