New Mexico State rides Gausman past Rainbows

Hawaii fails in its bid to sweep the Aggies in the three-game series

The New Mexico State Aggies needed one big offensive inning and the pitching of Brian Gausman to keep the Hawaii Rainbows from sweeping the three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series yesterday.

NMSU   Hawaii 5 3 Next up: vs. Sacramento State, Friday

Gausman, a junior right-hander, held the UH hitters at bay for eight innings before 1,528 fans at Les Murakami Stadium, and his teammates turned a four-run third inning into a 5-3 triumph.

"He (Gausman) mixed it up. We didn't have it today. We didn't start to put it together until it was too late," said Rainbow first baseman Luis Avila.

Gausman allowed the first UH hitter in an inning to get on base just twice and had double-play help in the second and eighth innings.

"He mixed his fastball, slider and a changeup now and then. He just threw strikes. He threw so many strikes, we should have been able to hit him," said UH left fielder Robbie Wilder.

The 'Bows (29-12, 7-6) took a one-run lead in the first inning for the third consecutive game, but did little at the plate after that. The Hawaii runs scored on two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly.

Justin Frash singled to right with two outs. He advanced to third on Avila's single to center and scored on a wild pitch by Gausman.

The Aggies (15-28, 2-10) took their first lead of the series when they batted around and scored four runs in the third.

Jeremy Uhl and Joseph Godinez doubled to right and left, respectively, to start the inning, with Uhl scoring the first run. Godinez took third on Vince Rodden's bunt single. Jason Long then singled to left, scoring Godinez, with Rodden stopping at second.

Abe Aguirre's sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. When Ian Harrington's first pitch to Brandon Lance hit the dirt well in front of the plate, Trapasso brought Tyler Davis in from the bullpen.

Lance grounded out, bringing Rodden home. Long moved up to third and scored on Adam Harvey's double to right-center field for a 4-1 New Mexico State lead.

Harrington, who got through the first two innings, said, "I was a different pitcher in the bullpen. I just didn't carry it out to the field. My fastball was up, I was throwing everything else for strikes, but my fastball was up. I tried to throw it (the fastball) harder and bad things happened."

Davis and Matt Daly quieted the Aggie bats until the ninth, when Long led off with an infield single and moved to second on Aguirre's sacrifice bunt.

Daly was relieved by Darrell Fisherbaugh. His first pitch was wild and Long came all the way around from second to score.

The Rainbows threatened in the bottom of the ninth when Frash and Avila singled and Matt Inouye was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.

Dillon Smith came in from the NMSU bullpen and retired pinch hitter Esteban Lopez on a fly to right, gave up a run on Kris Sanchez's sacrifice fly and wild-pitched pinch runner Nate Young home.

Smith then walked Jon Hee and Eli Christensen to reload the bases, but ended the game by getting Wilder on a routine fly to center.

"We just showed up and that was about it. This team isn't good enough to just throw their gloves on the field and win. It was our worst effort of the year," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.

The loss kept the Rainbows from closing to within a half-game of first place in the WAC standings.

Note: Prior to the game, Steve and Amy Sugai were presented with the Charles Ushijima Service Award. This award is for volunteers who contribute their time to the UH athletic department in support of the athletes. The Sugais' contributions were to the Rainbow Wahine soccer team.

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