Hawaii catcher Esteban Lopez tagged out Fresno State's Nick Moresi during yesterday's 7-3 Fresno State victory at Les Murakami Stadium.
Bulldogs sink ’Bows
Fresno State out-hits Hawaii 16-5
to take the series with a 7-3 win
The 2,063 fans at Les Murakami Stadium yesterday must have thought they were watching a submarine movie with the constant pinging of the Fresno State bats.
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The loss put a damper on senior day in the Rainbows' final home game of the season and all but sank their hopes for a run at the league title.
Hawaii (25-25 overall, 12-12 WAC) ends the season with six road games, three each at Rice and Louisiana Tech over the next two weekends.
The Bulldogs won five of the six meetings in 2005. The magnitude of UH's futility vs. FSU this year was evident when Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso brought in closer Darrell Fisherbaugh in the fourth inning.
The Bulldogs (26-26, 12-11) built a 6-1 lead after four innings by collecting 11 of their hits off starter Colby Summer and reliever Ricky Bauer.
"I never felt we matched up well against Fresno pitching-wise, but you still don't go out and give up 16 hits," said Trapasso. "We had opportunities to get things done offensively, but did not. It was like we had no faith or memory of how we played for seven games."
Summer struck out the side in the first, but Fresno State intertwined four singles with those whiffs to score twice.
Christian Vitters blooped a single off the end of his bat over third to start the inning and took third on Nick Moresi's hit-and-run single to right. Moresi advanced to second on a wild pitch. Both runners scored on Chase Moore's single to left.
Hawaii's Erik Ammon dove back to first base as Fresno State's Kent Sakamoto dove for the ball.
With one down, Todd Sandell doubled down the left-field line, took third on a ground out and scored on Kent Sakamoto's single to left. When Moresi's single to right sent Sakamoto to third, Trapasso called on Bauer, who ended the inning on one pitch as Beau Mills flew out to center.
Bauer pitched out of big trouble in the third. Steve Susdorf singled to center and moved to third when Brian Lapin lined a two-strike pitch into the left-field corner for a double.
Susdorf was an easy out at home when he tried to score on Ryan Overland's one-bouncer back to Bauer. However, Sandell was hit by a 1-2 pitch, loading the bases. Bauer put a zero on the scoreboard when he got Vitters to fly out to Erik Ammon in left center.
"They hit some good pitches in holes where we didn't have people," said Summer, who made his earliest exit as a starter.
"Colby didn't have any velocity or location," Trapasso said.
The 'Bows finally got their first hit when Isaac Omura's lazy fly near the left-field foul line fell for a double with two out in the third. He took third on a wild pitch and scored when Nate Thurber bounced a single over third.
Assistant coach Chad Konishi consoled UH senior Greg Kish after the Rainbows fell 7-3 to Fresno State yesterday.
Sakamoto ripped a line-shot double into the left-field corner to start the inning. Moresi was hit by a pitch.
Mills singled to right, scoring Sakamoto. When right fielder Matt Inouye's throw home skipped through to the backstop, Moresi also scored and Mills took second.
Moore slammed the first pitch he saw on the ground toward third. Schafer Magana stabbed the ball and got it to first in time for the out as Mills took third. Mills would score for a 6-1 FSU lead on Susdorf's short sacrifice fly to left when Ammon's throw was off-target up the first-base line.
The Rainbows turned two walks, a single to right by Derek Dupree and Ammon's sacrifice fly into a run in the seventh. Three walks and a bases-loaded fielding error by Vitters at shortstop gave UH its third run and left the bases full.
But FSU's fifth pitcher, Ryan Penn, fanned Joe Spiers, leaving the UH leadoff batter 0-for-26 vs. the Bulldogs this season. Penn ended the threat by getting Ammon to ground out.
"They gave us everything we got," Trapasso said. "Getting just five hits against Sunday (third game of a series) pitching is embarrassing."
Leahey Award to Passas: The Chuck Leahey Award was presented to Conrad Passas, a longtime youth league coach and former general manager of the Hawaii Islanders AAA team. The annual award recognizes outstanding service to baseball in Hawaii.
Ushijima Award: The correct name of the award given to Bert Kobayashi Jr. on Friday night is the Charlie Ushijima Rainbow Service Award. An incorrect name was given in yesterday's Star-Bulletin.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 15 8 .652 -- 35 15 Fresno State 13 11 .542 2 1/2 27 26 Hawaii 12 12 .500 3 1/2 25 25 Nevada 11 12 .478 4 22 24 San Jose State* 11 13 .458 4 1/2 25 24 Louisiana Tech 8 13 .381 6 16 30 * -- San Jose St. has one nonconference tie
Yesterday
Fresno State 7, Hawaii 3
Rice 16, Nevada 3
San Jose State 2, Sacremento State 0
Fresno State 7, Hawaii 3
Fresno State AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Vitters ss 5 1 1 0 Spiers ss 4 0 0 0 Sakamoto 1b 5 1 3 1 Ammon lf 2 0 0 0 Flater 1b 0 0 0 0 Kish lf 1 0 0 1 Moresi cf 4 2 2 0 Omura 2b 4 1 1 0 Mills 3b 5 1 1 1 Thurber dh 5 0 2 1 Moore rf 5 0 1 2 Magana 3b 4 1 1 0 Susdorf dh 4 1 3 1 Avila 1b 3 0 0 0 Lapin lf 5 0 2 0 Inouye rf 3 0 0 0 Overland c 5 0 1 0 Lopez c 1 1 0 0 Sandell 2b 3 1 2 0 Dupree cf 4 0 1 1 Totals 41 7 16 5 Totals 31 3 5 3 Fresno State 210 300 001 -- 7 16 1 Hawaii 001 000 110 -- 3 5 2 E--Vitters; Spiers; Inouye. DP--FSU 1, Hawaii 2. LOB--FSU 10, Hawaii 11. 2B--Sakamoto; Susdorf; Lapin; Sandell; Omura. SF--Susdorf; Kish. SB--Sakamoto; Dupree.
Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Romero (W, 6-4) 5 1/3 4 1 1 3 4 Edwards 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 Burke 1/3 1 1 1 2 0 Miller 2/3 0 1 1 1 0 Penn 2 0 0 0 2 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Summer (L, 2-5) 1 2/3 7 3 3 0 3 Bauer 1 2/3 4 3 3 0 0 Fisherbaugh 5 2/3 5 1 0 0 1 WP--Romero 2; Summer. HBP--by Romero (Lopez); by Bauer (Sandell); by Bauer (Moresi). BK--Romero.
Umpires--Heath Jones (home), Jim Garman (first), Tom Chandler (third).
T--2:54. A--3,383.
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