[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
’Bows waste 6-run lead
in loss at San Jose State
The frustration continued yesterday for the Hawaii Rainbows, who blew a six-run lead in a 10-9 loss to San Jose State in a Western Athletic Conference baseball game at SJSU's Blethen Field.
It was not a good omen when scheduled starting pitcher Stephen Bryant strained his back warming up and had to be replaced on an emergency basis by Guy McDowell, who made his first collegiate start.
"When Chad (Konishi) came down from the bullpen as we were exchanging lineups and told me about Stephen, my first thought was 'What else could go wrong this year?' " UH coach Mike Trapasso said.
McDowell allowed just four hits and two runs through five innings, but surrendered a pair of two-run homers in the sixth.
"Guy pitched well and just made two bad pitches when he got tired," Trapasso said.
The Spartans (22-31-1, 10-19) scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth off Darrell Fisherbaugh after two were out to take their first lead on a single by Ruben Martinez, Scott Niheu's double and Kevin Frandsen's single.
The Rainbows (31-23, 13-15) had runners at second and third with one out in the eighth inning and loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but did not get a run-producing hit in either situation.
The ninth was particularly frustrating after Greg Kish walked and Matt Inouye singled to center to start the inning.
Jaziel Mendoza failed to sacrifice the runners up a base, only to have Rocky Russo follow with a single to right that would have scored a runner from third, but the hit was not deep enough to get Kish home from second.
Andrew Sansaver then fanned on a 3-2 pitch after fouling off two offerings from Brad Kilby, and Isaac Omura flew out to right to end the game.
"We had to go to Fish too early. He didn't have his best stuff today and it has been tough going with a five- or six-man pitching staff all year," said Trapasso, who has indicated in the past an eight-man staff is necessary to be successful at the college level.
"We're just limping to the finish line."
That line will be reached today with the series finale. Clary Carlsen will start for UH.
Hawaii took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Sansaver belted his fourth home run of the season over the left-field fence.
The Spartans tied the score in the third. Martinez led off with a bloop single to left and took second when Justin Santich-Hughes was hit by a pitch. The runners advanced on a wild pitch and Martinez scored a balk by McDowell.
Hawaii broke the tie with a six-run fifth inning, with the last five runs scoring after two were out. Nate Thurber and Josh Green delivered run-scoring singles, Brian Finegan lined an RBI double to right and Inouye culminated the inning with a three-run homer to left for a 7-1 UH lead.
The Spartans scored once in the fifth and pulled within one run, 7-6, on two-out, two-run homers by Brandon Fromm and Martinez in the sixth.
McDowell's longest outing of the season ended when he was replaced by Fisherbaugh after Martinez's blast.
The 'Bows went ahead 9-6 on consecutive doubles to right by Finegan and Kish, Inouye's groundout and Mendoza's sacrifice fly in the seventh.
SJSU came right back with two two-out runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Niheu and Frandsen's single to center.
WAC standings
Conference All games W L Pct. GB W L Pct. x-Rice 23 6 .793 -- 42 12 .778 Fresno State 16 12 .571 6 1/2 28 29 .491 Nevada 14 15 .483 9 30 28 .517 Hawaii 13 15 .464 9 1/2 31 23 .574 Louisiana Tech 10 19 .345 13 20 37 .351 San Jose State 10 19 .345 13 22 31 .417
x-clinched WAC title
San Jose State has one non-conference tie.Yesterday
San Jose State 10, Hawaii 9
Louisiana Tech 6, Rice, 5, 10 inn.
Rice 10, Louisiana Tech 0
Fresno State 8, Nevada 7
Today
Lousiana Tech at Rice
Hawaii at San Jose State, 10 a.m. Hawaii time
Nevada at Fresno State
San Jose State 10, Hawaii 9
Hawaii AB R H BI SJSU AB R H BI Finegan ss 4 2 2 1 Frandsen 3b 5 1 2 1 Kish rf 3 2 1 1 Angel lf 5 1 2 0 Inouye c 5 1 3 3 Contreras ss 4 0 0 1 Mendoza lf 4 0 0 1 Lansford dh 3 1 1 1 Russo 3b 4 0 1 0 Becktel rf 2 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 4 2 2 1 Fromm 1b 4 1 1 2 Omura 2b 5 0 1 0 Corrick cf 4 1 1 0 Thurber dh 2 1 1 1 Martinez 2b 4 4 4 2 Magana ph 0 0 0 0 Santich- 0 0 0 0 Hughes c Green cf 4 1 1 1 Niheu c 3 1 2 1 Totals 35 9 12 9 Totals 34 10 13 8 Hawaii 010 060 200 -- 9 12 0 San Jose State 001 014 22x -- 10 13 2 E--Frandsen (8), Martinez (5). LOB--Hawaii 7, SJSU 4. 2B--Finegan 2 (13), Kish (10), Inouye (20), Angel (6), Lansford (12), Niheu (5). HR--Inouye (5), Sansaver (3), Fromm (6), Martinez (1). SH--Magana (11). SF--Mendoza (1), Lansford (2). CS--Kish (4), Inouye (4), Angel (1), Becktel (3).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO McDowell 5 2/3 8 6 6 1 3 Fisherbaugh (L, 0-4) 2 1/3 5 4 4 0 2 Nevada IP H R ER BB SO Cabral 6 7 8 8 4 5 Winck 1 1 1 1 0 0 Waite 0 2 0 0 0 0 Kilby (W, 3-1) 2 2 0 0 1 2 WP--McDowell 2 (5), Fisherbaugh (3), Cabral (11). HBP--by McDowell (Becktel), by McDowell (Santich-Hughes), by Cabral (Sansaver). BK--McDowell (1). Umpires--Dan Payne (home), Tom Chandler (first), Larry Randall (third).
T--2:51. A--645.