[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Rainbows double up
on visiting BulldogsHawaii turns five double plays
to win series opener
The Hawaii Rainbows rallied with a three-run seventh inning and turned five double plays to defeat Louisiana Tech 8-4 before 1,131 fans in the opener of a three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series at Murakami Stadium last night.
The 'Bows retook the lead in the seventh after coach Mike Trapasso was ejected by plate umpire Joe Burleson following a called third strike on Greg Kish leading off the inning.
Matt Inouye singled to left and Jaziel Mendoza rammed a single up the middle, with Inouye stopping at second. Rocky Russo's bid for a hit down the third-base line was foiled by LaTech third baseman Stephen Winters' diving stop. He touched third for a force on Inouye.
Andrew Sansaver singled to center, scoring Mendoza to tie the score at 4-4. Nate Thurber then sent a hard grounder toward center that second baseman Brandon Haygood caught but dropped and had no play, loading the bases.
Creighton Kahoali'i, who fouled off the first pitch trying to drop a surprise bunt down the third-base line, delivered a single to left that scored Russo and Sansaver for a 6-4 UH lead.
"The third baseman was playing behind the dirt and bunting is a big part of my game," said Kahoali'i. "I got him to move in and closer to the (foul) line and that made it possible for my single to get through the infield."
The 'Bows picked up welcome insurance in the eighth inning on Schafer Magana's two-run triple to the alley in left. He entered the game as a defensive replacement at third base in the top of the eighth inning.
Hawaii also got one-hit relief pitching from sophomore right-hander Guy McDowell, who went the final 3 1/3 innings and earned his first win of the year after taking over for starter Ricky Bauer.
"Guy had good movement on his fastball. All Guy has to do is throw the ball and not try to aim it," said Kahoali'i. "Ricky pitched a great game, but they got five or six soft hits."
"We don't mind those kind of hits when we bat," said Trapasso. "They made things happen and you have to give them credit. It seemed like they had the leadoff man on base all night. When you let that happen, you are playing with fire."
Fortunately, the UH defense played errorless ball and made all the necessary plays.
The Rainbows (21-12 overall, 6-4 WAC) jumped on LaTech starter Matt Lacy for two runs in the first inning.
Kish drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Inouye's ground-rule double to left-center field. With two outs, Russo grounded Lacy's first pitch right between the right-hander's legs into center field to score Kish and Inouye.
The Bulldogs (12-27, 3-10) loaded the bases with one out in the third on consecutive singles by Mims Boyce, Brandon Hudson and Haygood, but settled for one run on Jeff Walker's fielder's choice ground ball.
Hawaii took a 3-1 lead in the fourth. Kahoali'i was safe at first with an infield single after LaTech third baseman Winters knocked down a hard shot but did not recover in time to make a play at first. Isaac Omura's hit-and-run single to right advanced Kahoali'i to third and he scored on Brian Finegan's fielder's choice grounder.
The Bulldogs cut their deficit to one run again in the fifth on a single to center by Boyce and a hit-and-run single to right by Hudson that moved Boyce to third. He scored on Haygood's sacrifice bunt toward first.
Louisiana Tech rallied for two two-out runs in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead.
Jeremy Alford hit a ground ball over the mound that ricocheted off Omura's glove near second base. The ball went high in the air and eluded Finegan, backing up the play, and rolled into short right. Alford hustled into second with a double. He took third when Gil Laird beat out a slow roller to the shortstop hole and scored on Gary Holik's bloop single to right.
That ended Bauer's night on the mound after giving up 12 hits and four earned runs. He did not walk a batter and fanned five.
Dusty McHale, running for Laird, took third on the play and scored on a double-steal attempt before Holik was run down and tagged out between first and second.
Louisiana Tech has lost eight consecutive games.
The teams play tonight at 6:35 p.m. Stephen Bryant (4-2) starts on the mound for UH.
WAC standings
Conference All games W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 12 1 .917 -- 28 7 .794 Hawaii 6 4 .600 4 1/2 21 12 .636 Nevada 5 5 .444 5 1/2 19 17 .514 Fresno State 4 6 .444 5 1/2 16 23 .421 San Jose State 6 10 .400 6 1/2 16 19 .471 Louisiana Tech 3 10 .231 9 12 27 .308
San Jose State has one non-conference tie.Yesterday
Nevada 20, Fresno State 2
Rice 6, San Jose State 2
Hawaii 8, Louisiana Tech 4
Today
San Jose State at Rice
Fresno State at Nevada
Lousiana Tech at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
Hawaii 8, Louisiana Tech 4
La Tech AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Boyce c 4 2 4 0 Finegan ss 5 0 1 1 Hudson dh/lf 4 0 2 0 Kish rf 3 1 1 0 Soper ph 1 0 0 0 Inouye cf 5 2 3 0 Haygood 2b 3 0 1 1 Mendoza lf 4 2 1 0 Walker lf/rf 4 0 0 1 Russo 3b 3 1 2 2 Spangler 1b 4 0 2 0 Magana 3b 1 0 1 2 Winters 3b 3 0 1 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 2 1 Alford cf 4 1 1 0 Thurber dh 4 0 0 0 Laird rf/dh 3 0 1 0 Kahoali'i c 4 1 2 2 McHale pr/lf 0 1 0 0 Omura 2b 4 0 1 0 Bastion ph 0 0 0 0 Holik ss 4 0 1 1 Totals 34 4 13 3 Totals 37 8 14 8 La Tech 001 012 000 -- 4 13 1 Hawaii 200 100 32x -- 8 14 0 E--Haygood (20). DP--La Tech 1, Hawaii 5. LOB--La Tech 7, Hawaii 10. 2B--Alford (9), Inouye (16). 3B--Magana (1). SH--Haygood (4). SB--Alford (6), Kish (5), Inouye (10). CS--Boyce (2), Holik (3).
La Tech IP H R ER BB SO Lacy (L, 1-6) 6.2 10 6 4 3 4 Alsup 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 Love 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 Herron 1.0 2 2 2 2 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer 5.2 12 4 4 0 5 McDowell (W, 1-0) 3.1 1 0 0 2 1 WP--Bauer 2 (2). HBP--by McDowell (Boyce). BK--Love (7). Umpires--Joe Burleson (home), Don Greman (first), Phil Benson (third). T--3:16. A--2,253.