[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Hawaii's Brian Finegan stole third base as HPU's Kyle Stanley bobbled the throw last night.
’Bows defeat
Sea Warriors in ninth
Nate Thurber smashed a line drive into the left-field corner on a hit-and-run play that scored Creighton Kahoali'i from first base to give Hawaii a hard-fought 8-7 win over Hawaii Pacific in a nonconference game at rain-swept Murakami Stadium last night.
Kahoali'i was on base via a one-out walk from HPU's fourth pitcher, Sean Paiva.
Stephen Bryant, UH's fifth pitcher, retired the Sea Warriors in order in the ninth to get the victory.
Last night was the 13th time the Sea Warriors (27-27) have played Hawaii (27-16) since the last time they defeated the Rainbows (1986). It almost proved to be a lucky night for HPU and coach Allan Sato, who pitched that 1-0 shutout 18 years ago. But not quite.
The Sea Warriors hit UH starter Steven Wright hard in the first inning. Leadoff batter Geoffrey Say lined a single to left on Wright's second pitch.
After Say was forced at second on Grandon Costa's sacrifice bunt try, Kyle Stanley lined a single to right. One out later, Tyler Ward ripped Wright's first pitch into the left-field corner for a two-run double.
Hawaii Pacific loaded the bases in the third on two walks sandwiched around a single to right by Ward, but Wright escaped further trouble by getting Ikaika DuPont on a grounder to short.
The Rainbows edged ahead 3-2 in the third. The inning started with Brian Finegan grounding a double down the third base line. He scored when HPU started Kai Austin threw wildly to first on Andrew Sansaver's tap back to the mound. Matt Inouye walked.
On Jaziel Mendoza's sacrifice bunt attempt, HPU catcher Chase Nakamura gunned the ball to third in time to force Sansaver. Rocky Russo followed with a single to right scoring Inouye and sending Mendoza to third, from where he scored on Kahoali'i's sacrifice fly to right.
HPU came back to tie the score in the top of the fourth. Brandon Sato doubled to left-center field, continued to third when Inouye misplayed the ball and scored on a wild pitch.
Schafer Magana walked on four pitches to initiate a UH response in the bottom of the inning. He took second on an errant pickoff throw by Austin and scored on Isaac Omura's double to left-center field.
Finegan's infield single to deep second moved Omura to third and he scored on Sansaver's squeeze bunt for a 5-3 Hawaii lead.
Guy McDowell took over for Wright in the fifth and pitched one uneventful inning. Chuck Withers enjoyed a three-up, three-down in the sixth, but ran into control problems in the seventh when he hit Costa to start the inning.
Greg Benoit drew a one-out walk and both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. Costa scored on Ward's groundout and Benoit came home to tie the score at 5 on Alika Kuraoka's seeing-eye bouncer into center field. DuPont then lifted a 3-2 pitch over the right-field wall to give the Sea Warriors a 7-5 lead.
Magana started the Rainbows' third rally with a leadoff double in the eighth. He took third on a groundout and scored on Finegan's single to right. Finegan stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Inouye's double down the left-field line.
