UH tips LaTech,
evens record
Hawaii rallies from a seventh-
inning deficit for the win
Adam Roberts knocked in the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning and Steven Wright survived a scary ninth as Hawaii edged Louisiana Tech 5-4 in the opener of a Western Athletic Conference baseball series at Ruston, La.
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Haygood was the last batter Bryant faced.
Pinch hitter Robbie Wilder, in for Nate Thurber, started the UH comeback in the eighth with a first-pitch single off the glove of LaTech reliever Mitch Tucker.
"Nate wasn't seeing the ball well and hadn't made contact," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was the leadoff spot, so we figured Wilder might leg one out and that's exactly what he did. The move worked out well for us."
Schafer Magana sacrificed Wilder to second and Wilder scored on Esteban Lopez's double to right. Lopez took third on Greg Kish's groundout. Roberts singled to left for his third hit of the game, scoring Lopez with the go-ahead run.
Wright, who closed out the seventh inning without further trouble and had a three-up, three-down eighth, gave up a leadoff double down the right-field line to Mims Boyce to start the ninth.
"We were playing no-doubles defense (first and third basemen guarding the lines)," Trapasso said. "Luis (Avila) froze for a second, didn't get a good jump on the ball. Then, Mims is out by 10 feet at second if Kish makes a good throw. Mims was lucky on two counts, but it worked out for us."
Wright responded by striking out Albie Goulder looking and Gary Holik swinging.
Haygood, who singled in LaTech's (17-38, 9-19) first run in the three-run fourth, picked on the sophomore right-hander's first pitch and sent a drive to deep center that Derek Dupree caught on the warning track, close to 380 feet from home plate, to end the game.
"Derek made a nice running catch over the shoulder. I thought it was gone, a walk-off homer," said Trapasso. "It's lucky Haygood hit it to the deepest part of the park."
Dupree had tripled down the right-field line and scored on Joe Spiers' sacrifice fly to right as UH tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the seventh.
Over the first four innings, LaTech pitcher Ryan Rupert held the 'Bows to two hits, both by Roberts. However, the LaTech right-hander walked seven batters, including four consecutively in the fourth as Hawaii took a 2-0 lead on a bases-loaded walk to Matt Inouye and Roberts' single to left.
The Bulldogs connected for four consecutive hits off Bryant in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead. Brandon Hudson's two-run double brought home the Bulldogs' final two runs.
After Haygood's homer, Bryant looked at the dugout and said something that Trapasso didn't catch.
"I went out for an injury timeout. Steve told me he couldn't throw his curveball. The cut under the fingernail on the middle finger of his pitching hand was open and there was blood all over the place," said Trapasso. "He wanted to stay in, but he didn't have his curveball, his best pitch."
Justin Costi will start for UH today. Trapasso hopes the junior right-hander is on his game.
"I really would like to get six or seven good innings out of Justin or we are dead," said Trapasso, who won't have Darrell Fisherbaugh or Colby Summer available.
Fisherbaugh still has tightness in his right shoulder and Summer has decided not to pitch again this season.
"Colby told me that since we were out of the race and that he hasn't felt 100 percent, he wasn't going to push it. He told me he didn't have anything to gain by throwing. I've never run into that before," Trapasso said.
Notes: Inouye was inadvertently kicked in the head by second baseman Haygood diving back into second to avoid a double play in the fourth. Inouye left the game an inning later after experiencing dizziness. ... UH assistant coach Travis Janssen is back in Honolulu with his wife, Christy, who gave birth to their first child, Avery Christine Janssen, Tuesday. ... Rice clinched its 10th consecutive WAC baseball title with a 5-3 win over San Jose State last night. Fresno State was eliminated by Nevada 5-4.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L a-Rice 19 9 .679 -- 39 17 Fresno State 16 12 .571 3 30 27 Hawaii 14 14 .500 5 27 27 San Jose State* 13 15 .464 6 28 26 Nevada 13 15 .464 6 24 27 Louisiana Tech 9 19 .321 10 17 38 * -- San Jose St. has one nonconference tie
a -- Clinched conference titleYesterday
Hawaii 5, Louisiana Tech 4
Rice 5, San Jose State 3
Nevada 5, Fresno State 4
Today
Hawaii at Louisiana Tech, 10 a.m. HST
San Jose State at Rice
Fresno State at Nevada
Tomorrow
Hawaii at Louisiana Tech, 8 a.m. HST
San Jose State at Rice
Fresno State at Nevada
End regular season
Hawaii 5, Louisiana Tech 4
Hawaii AB R H BI Rice AB R H BI Spiers ss 3 0 0 1 Haygood 2b 5 2 2 2 Ammon lf 4 0 1 0 Hudson lf 4 0 2 2 Omura 2b 4 0 0 0 Tabor dh 4 0 0 0 Thurber dh 2 1 0 0 Hamilton 3b 4 0 1 0 Wilder ph 1 1 1 0 Laird rf 3 0 0 0 Russo ph 1 0 0 0 Rike cf 4 0 1 0 Magana 3b 1 1 0 0 Mims c 3 0 1 0 Lopez c 3 1 1 1 Goulder 1b 4 1 1 0 Inouye rf 0 0 0 1 Holik ss 4 1 1 0 Kish rf 2 0 0 0 Roberts 1b 4 0 3 2 Avila 1b 0 0 0 0 Dupree cf 4 1 1 0 Totals 29 5 7 5 Totals 35 4 9 4 Hawaii 100 061 201 -- 11 11 3 LaTech 130 114 13x -- 14 18 2 DP--LT 2. LOB--UH 8, LT 6. 2B--Ammon, Lopez, Hudson, Boyce. 3B--Dupree. HR--Haygood. SH--Magana. SF--Spiers. SB--Magana, Boyce.
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bryant 6 1/3 7 4 4 1 5 Wright 2 2/3 2 0 0 0 4 Louisiana Tech IP H R ER BB SO Rupert 4 2 2 2 7 5 Tucker (L, 2-5) 3 2/3 4 3 3 1 3 Knotts 2/3 1 0 0 1 1 Love 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 HBP--by Bryant (Boyce).
Umpires--Chris Magouirk (plate), Greg Oros (first), Keith Bailey (third).
T--2:30. A--429
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