GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Creighton Kahoali'i crashed into home plate past Sacramento State catcher Buddy Morales last night.
Rainbows rally to nip
Sacramento StateHawaii scores twice in the
bottom of the eighth to grab a
5-4 victory over the visiting Hornets
The Hawaii Rainbows rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge Sacramento State 5-4 and gain a split of the two-game, nonconference series at Murakami Stadium.
Ricky Bauer picked up his sixth win of the season with four innings of one-hit relief pitching.
The 'Bows (20-12), who reached 20 wins faster than any team since the 1999 squad won 20 in their first 32 games, took their only lead in the series in the eighth.
"All of a sudden, we had a hard time scoring runs this week," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "The satisfying thing tonight was every time they scored we answered. This was a big win."
Jaziel Mendoza doubled to right-center field on a fastball middle in to open the inning and moved to third on a groundout. After barely holding up on his swing on a low pitch, Andrew Sansaver lined a double down the left-field line on a 2-2 pitch.
The Hornets brought reliever Mick Joyce in and he retired Isaac Omura on a fly to short right. Andy Mohr then came out of the bullpen to face Schafer Magana. The UH third baseman lined a 2-2 pitch to left that scored Sansaver with the go-ahead run.
"My first three at-bats I was kind of tentative, taking a lot of strikes," Magana said. "I wanted to be more aggressive in the eighth. I told Robbie (Wilder) that I was going to win the game. I was just trying to get confidence in myself."
The starting pitchers, Hawaii's Steven Wright and Sacramento State's Warren Rosebrock, breezed through the first two innings, but ran into trouble in the third.
The Hornets struck first with two runs. Ronnie Machado singled to center with one out and stole second. Craig Johnson, who started his career at UH, walked on a full count. Brian Blauser then laced a a one-ball pitch off the left-center field wall for a two-run triple.
The Rainbows came right back to tie the score at 2-2. Magana singled to center to start the inning, took second on Robbie Wilder's sacrifice bunt and third on a balk. Brian Finegan singled Magana home. Greg Kish singled to right, sending Finegan to third. Finegan scored on Matt Inouye's sacrifice fly to right.
Wright retired the Hornets in order in the fourth and fifth innings, but hit Blauser with a pitch to start the sixth and was replaced by Ricky Bauer after surrendering a first-pitch single to Jack Arroyo.
Andy Hnilo sacrificed the runners up a base and Bret LeVier was intentionally walked after Bauer's first three pitches were balls. Pedro Santiago drove Blauser home with a first-pitch line single to left and Arroyo scored for a 4-2 Hornet lead on Buddy Morales' fielder's choice grounder.
UH cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning on Creighton Kahoali'i's bunt single, a sacrifice bunt by Sansaver and Omura's single to right.
"I thought Steven threw well. It was by far his best outing of the season. He was consistent with his delivery, down in the zone with his pitches and mixed his pitches well," Trapasso said. "He is just going to get better."
"Ricky brought his plus game with him tonight. He was really throwing his good slider."
Bauer, making just his third relief appearance in two years, retired the last 10 Hornets he faced. He walked one and fanned three.
The Rainbows are off until they open a three-game Western Athletic Conference series against Louisiana Tech on April 16.
Sacramento St. 6, Hawaii 3
Sac State AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Johnson rf 3 1 0 0 Finegan ss 5 1 1 1 Blauser 1b 3 1 1 2 Kish rf 4 0 2 0 Arroyo 2b 4 1 1 0 Inouye c 2 0 1 1 Hnilo dh 3 0 0 0 Mendoza lf 4 1 1 0 LeVier ss 3 0 0 0 Kahoali'i dh 4 1 1 0 Santiago 3b 3 0 1 1 Sansaver 1b 3 1 1 1 Morales c 4 0 0 1 Omura 2b 4 0 2 1 Strombach lf 3 0 0 0 Magana 3b 4 1 2 1 Flowers ph 1 0 0 0 Wilder cf 2 0 0 0 Machado Jr. cf 3 1 1 0 Totals 30 4 4 4 Totals 32 5 11 5
Sacramento St. 002 002 000 -- 4 4 0 Hawaii 002 001 02x -- 5 11 0
LOB--Sac State 4, Hawaii 8. 2B--Mendoza, Sansaver. 3B--Blauser. SH--Hnilo, Sansaver, Wilder. SF--Inouye. SB--Machado Jr., Kish, Omura.
Sacramento St. IP H R ER BB SO Rosebrock (L, 4-5) 7 1/3 10 5 5 1 7 Joyce 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 Mohr 1/3 1 0 0 1 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Wright 5 3 4 4 2 1 Bauer (W, 6-2) 4 1 0 0 1 3
HBP--by Wright (Blauser). BK--Rosebrock. Umpires--Jim LeBeau (plate), Gary Montalbo (first), Mike Evans (third).
T--2:45. A--736.
