GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Jose Castaneda of UH was out at the plate yesterday on a double-steal attempt in the third inning.

Pacific pops UH’s
sweep bid

The comeback mode the Hawaii Rainbows were in during their first three games against Pacific never materialized in yesterday afternoon's series finale against the Tigers.

The lack of execution in critical situations cost the Rainbows (5-3) their first four-game series sweep since 1994 against California.

The Tigers (6-5) pushed a run home in the 13th inning for a 2-1 victory before 1,228 fans at Les Murakami Stadium.

Pacific had gone seven innings without a hit before manufacturing the winning run.

"We were lifeless, had no toughness, no fire and that is a shame because we played a great game from a pitching and defensive standpoint," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

"We left it all on the field (Saturday night), and when you leave 25 percent of your games to chance, you are going to lose.

"This game never should have gone to extra innings. It was as bad an execution game as we will have all year. No one wanted to step up and be a hero."

Justin Costi pitched the first 7 2/3 innings and allowed just four hits. Steven Wright went the final 5 1/3 and gave up two hits. The second one was a leadoff double in the 13th by Jesse Kovacs on a 2-2 pitch past a diving Luis Avila at first base that rolled into the right-field corner.

Ryan Amos sacrificed Kovacs to third and he scored the game-winning run on Anthony Jackson's single up the middle through a drawn-in infield.

"Justin had it all going for him. His fastball, curve and cutter were all working, although his curve wasn't as sharp as last week," Trapasso said.

Costi threw strikes on 25 of his 29 first pitches. Overall, the junior right-hander delivered 70 strikes and 28 balls. He left the game within two of his 100-pitch limit.

Wright got a strike on 10 of 17 first pitches and was 21-for-33 throwing two strikes on his first three pitches. The sophomore right-hander had just one three-ball count.

The Rainbows' offensive frustration lasted all game with the exception of a brief moment in the fifth. Greg Kish whacked a two-out double to right-center and scored the UH run on Isaac Omura's single to right. That tied the score at 1-1

Otherwise, the 'Bows left 14 runners on base and could not score with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and 11th innings.

In the second and third innings, a Rainbow reached second with one out and did not score. In the 12th, Joe Spiers beat out an infield hit to short with one down, stole second with two outs, but was unable to advance farther.

A leadoff single by Schafer Magana in the 13th and a two-out single by Matt Inouye produced nothing.

The Tigers scored first for the fourth consecutive game when Kovacs doubled down the right-field line to start the fifth inning. He made it home on back-to-back ground balls to the right side by Noah St. Urbain and Jackson.

After UH tied the score in the bottom of the inning, Greg Reynolds replaced starter Brett Manning to start the sixth inning. The senior right-hander retired nine consecutive Rainbows and 14 of 15 before Spiers' single to center with one out in the 10th.

The hit extended the freshman shortstop's hitting streak to eight games. However, with the hit-and-run on, Kish hit a sharp liner to right center that Matt Berezay caught and easily doubled Spiers off first.

In the 11th, with the bases loaded and two down, Inouye smashed a 2-1 pitch that UOP's third pitcher, Josh Schmidt, was able to knock down in self defense, recover and get the out at first.

The Rainbows are off today, return to practice tomorrow and open a four-game series against the Washington State Cougars (5-5) on Thursday night.

Pacific 2, Hawaii 1, 13 inn.

Pacific	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI
Jackson 2b	6	0	1	2	Spiers ss	6	0	2	0
Hall ss	5	0	0	0	Kish lf/rf	5	1	1	0
Berezay rf	4	0	1	0	Omura 2b	5	0	2	1
Harper lf	4	0	0	0	Avila 1b	5	0	0	0
Seiber 1b	0	0	0	0	Magana 3b	4	0	2	0
Baum 1b	4	0	1	0	Lopez c	4	0	1	0
Haar dh	5	0	1	0	Roberts dh	4	0	0	0
Devany cf	3	0	0	0	ÊHee ph	1	0	0	0
ÊGottier ph	1	0	0	0	Castaneda rf	2	0	1	0
ÊGlasgow cf	1	0	0	0	ÊInouye ph/cf	4	0	1	0
Kovacs 3b	5	2	2	0	Dupree cf/lf	3	0	0	0
St. Urbain c	2	0	0	0	ÊWilder ph/lf	2	0	0	0
ÊAmos c	2	0	0	0	Ê
Totals	42	2	6	2	Totals	45	1	10	1

Pacific	000	010	000	000	1	--	2	6	2
Hawaii	000	010	000	000	0	--	1	10	0

E--Harper, Kovacs. DP--Pacific 2, Hawaii 2. LOB--Pacific 6, Hawaii 14. 2B--Kovacs 2, Kish, Magana. SH--Amos, Magana, Dupree. SB--Spiers 2. CS--Castaneda.

Pacific	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Manning	5	4	1	1	2	2
Reynolds	4 1/3	1	0	0	0	2
Schmidt (W, 2-0)	3 2/3	5	0	0	2	4
Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Costi	7 2/3	4	1	1	1	5
Wright (L, 1-1)	5 1/3	2	1	1	1	3

HBP--by Costi (Seiber), by Manning (Lopez), by Manning (Roberts), by Costi (Hall), by Reynolds (Lopez).
Umpires--Mike Evans (home), Cary Izuka (first), Keoki Torres (third).
T--3:51. A--1,228.