JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii catcher Esteban Lopez tagged Nevada's Eric Newman at home plate last night in the sixth inning.

’Bows fight back
to beat Pack

After falling behind by four,
Hawaii scores 11 straight runs
and then holds on for the win

The Hawaii baseball bats, silent for five innings, awoke with key hits in the sixth as 11 Rainbows went to the plate and erased a four-run deficit with six runs.

HAWAII 11 NEVADA 9 NEXT UP vs. Nevada, tonight

The 'Bows batted around again in the seventh, scoring five more times en route to an 11-9 victory over Nevada last night in the first of three Western Athletic Conference games at Les Murakami Stadium.

The win moved UH (22-23, 9-10) into fourth place in the standings, percentage points ahead of Fresno State.

Ricky Bauer picked up the win but needed help on the final out from Rich Olsen in the ninth after Nevada scored four times, with two runs coming on Ben Mummy's 10th homer of the year.

"It is nice to win, but I'm disappointed our pitchers seemed to lose focus when we had the big lead. But we play to win and nothing else matters," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.

"It just shows what kind of club they are. You give Nevada an inch and they will score a bunch of runs. We gave them three leadoff walks and all three scored."

The Wolf Pack (20-18, 9-7) scored first with two runs in the fourth.

Jacob Butler led off with a double on a ground ball that rolled to the left-center-field wall. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on Baker Krukow's ground out. Shawn Scobee then crushed a one-strike pitch over the center-field wall for his 11th home run of the season and a 2-0 Nevada lead.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii second baseman Isaac Omura grinned last night after turning a double play against Nevada.

The 'Bows had runners at first and second with one out in the first, a runner on third with two outs in the third and a runner at second with one out in the fourth, but did not score.

Nevada added one run in the fifth when UH starter Stephen Bryant issued his first walk of the game to Carlos Madrid. He took second on Robert Marcial's sacrifice bunt and scored on Matthew Bowman's single to center.

A leadoff walk to Krukow in the sixth again cost Bryant. After Scobee fanned, Bryant's ninth whiff, Eric Newman drilled the first pitch into the left-field corner for a double, with Krukow stopping at third. UH brought the infielders in, but Madrid grounded a ball through the hole to left, scoring Krukow.

Bauer replaced Bryant and ended the inning on two pitches. He flipped Marcial's suicide squeeze bunt back to catcher Esteban Lopez in time for Lopez to tag Newman out and retired Bowman on a grounder to third.

"I felt this was the best I've thrown all year mechanically," Bryant said. "I had my curve, but they got to my fastball and the walks hurt."

Tim Schoeninger, who fired a complete game at UH in the series opener at Nevada on April 8, cruised through the first five innings, allowing the Rainbows just two hits. That finally changed in the sixth.

Erik Ammon walked to start the inning and moved to third on Nate Thurber's one-out double to center. Schafer Magana lined a full-count pitch to center to score Ammon, with Thurber stopping at third.

Adam Roberts followed with a single to right-center, scoring Thurber as Magana stopped at second. The runners moved up on Matt Inouye's dribbler up the first-base line and came home on Lopez's single to right-center field on a 3-2 pitch.

"Basically I've had to get my timing right. Before I was trying to hook everything," said Lopez, who knocked in three runs.

"Now, I'm letting the ball travel. It's good to play every day and feel comfortable at the plate."

That was all for Schoeninger as Chris Scott took the mound.

Scott struck out Derek Dupree, who reached first on the third-strike wild pitch. Joe Spiers walked, loading the bases. Ammon also walked, forcing Lopez home. When Nevada first baseman Ben Mummy dropped the throw from second on Isaac Omura's ground ball, Dupree scored for a 6-4 Hawaii lead.

"We haven't batted around in consecutive innings all year. Obviously, the way things turned out, we needed those runs," said Trapasso.

Hawaii 11, Nevada 9

Nevada	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI
Bowman lf	3	0	1	1	Spiers ss	4	1	2	1
ÊMcNeil ph	0	1	0	0	Ammon lf	2	1	0	1
Hayes c	5	1	1	1	Omura 2b	4	0	1	1
Butler cf	4	1	1	0	Thurber dh	3	1	1	0
Mummy 1b	5	1	1	2	Magana 3b	4	2	2	1
Krukow dh	4	2	2	1	Roberts 1b	5	1	1	1
Scobee rf	4	2	2	1	Inouye rf	5	1	1	0
Newman 3b	4	0	1	0	Lopez c	5	2	2	3
ÊWalsh ph	1	0	1	1	Dupree cf	4	2	2	1
Madrid 2b	3	1	2	2
Ciarlo 2b	1	0	0	0
Marcial ss	3	0	1	0
Totals	37	9	13	9	Totals	36	11	12	9
Nevada	000	211	014	--	9	13	4
Hawaii	000	006	50x	--	11	12	0

E--Hayes; Mummy; Scobee; Marcial. DP--Hawaii 2. LOB--Nevada 8, Hawaii 9. 2B--Butler; Newman; Walsh; Thurber. HR--Mummy; Scobee. SH--Marcial; Magana. SB--Bowman; Scobee; Spiers 2; Lopez. CS--Dupree.

Nevada	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Schoeninger (L, 4-6)	5 2/3	6	5	5	3	2
Scott	0	0	1	0	2	1
Mason	2/3	2	2	2	0	0
Renfree	1/3	3	3	2	0	1
McCarthy	1 1/3	1	0	0	1	0
Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Bryant	5 1/3	7	4	4	3	9
Bauer (W, 4-3)	3 1/3	6	5	5	2	1
Olsen (S, 2)	1/3	0	0	0	0	1

HBP--by Bryant (Bowman); by Schoeninger (Ammon). WP--Scott; Bryant 2; Bauer. Umpires--Kevin Gilmore (plate), Phil Benson (first), Tony Norris (third).
T--3:23. A--2,027.

WAC standings

	Conference				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Rice	11	7	.611	--	30	14
Nevada	9	7	.563	1	20	18
San Jose State*	9	9	.500	2	21	18
Fresno State	7	8	.467	2 1/2	21	23
Hawaii	9	10	.474	2 1/2	22	23
Louisiana Tech	7	11	.389	4	15	28

* -- San Jose St. has one nonconference tie

Yesterday
Hawaii 11, Nevada 9
Today
Nevada at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
San Jose State at Louisiana Tech
Fresno State at Rice (2)
Tomorrow
Nevada at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
San Jose State at Louisiana Tech
Fresno State at Rice
Sunday
San Jose State at Louisiana Tech