Pack pushes ’Bows to the edge

UH faces an elimination game today following a 10-3 loss to Nevada at the WAC tournament

FRESNO, Calif. » The Nevada Wolf Pack put a huge crimp into the Hawaii Rainbows' bid to win the Western Athletic Conference postseason baseball tournament with a 10-3 victory last night at Pete Beiden Field.

The Rainbows now have to win two games today just to get to tomorrow's championship game. Hawaii (41-14 overall, 1-1 tourney) plays Louisiana Tech (33-24, 1-1) in today's second game at noon Hawaii time. It is a loser-out game in the double-elimination tournament.

The Hawaii-LaTech winner then plays the loser of today's first game -- a championship bracket matchup between No. 1 seed Fresno State (41-16, 2-0) and No. 4 seed Nevada (26-26, 2-0) -- in the night game (4 p.m. Hawaii time).

UH coach Mike Trapasso said when the Rainbows played at Nevada in mid-April that the young Wolf Pack team would jell by the conference tournament.

"This is not the same Nevada team we played a few weeks back," Trapasso said last night. "We got down by a bunch of runs early. We had to try and scrap back and had our chances.

"We seemed to have (Nevada starter Ryan) Rodriguez on the ropes but couldn't put him away and get into their bullpen. Then when we did, (Wesley) Dorsett was lights out."

Rodriguez gave up eight hits and walked five, but always seemed to have the right pitch in critical situations.

"I lost focus a couple of times, but I just wanted to keep the ball down and let them get themselves out," Rodriguez said. "I was able to locate my fastball and slider on the outside of the plate most of the time."

The Wolf Pack turned Justin Costi's start into his worst outing since he lasted just two innings against Fresno State here on April 8.

Last night, the senior right-hander went 2 2/3 innings and gave up seven runs, all earned, on six hits and four walks.

The Wolf Pack, the home team last night, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when leadoff batter Durell Williams hit a 1-2 pitch from Costi off the scoreboard behind the left-field wall for his second homer of the season.

The Rainbows threatened in the third when Jon Hee and Robbie Wilder singled with one out and took second and third, respectively, on Derek DuPree's slow grounder. But Rodriguez retired Justin Frash on a bouncer back to the mound.

Ryan Foley doubled to right-center field on the first pitch of the third inning and moved to third on Williams' ground single to left. Foley scored and Williams took second on Baker Krukow's groundout. Costi then fanned Matt Bowman for the second out in the inning as Williams stole third.

However, Shawn Scobee walked on a 3-2 pitch and Terry Walsh singled to center on a two-strike pitch, scoring Williams. After a visit from Trapasso, Costi walked Dan Eastham, loading the bases.

Drew Johnson, a .203 hitter, then lofted Costi's first pitch over the 370-foot sign in right-center field for a grand slam and a 7-0 Nevada lead. It was Johnson's fifth career homer and he only has 13 career hits in two seasons at UN.

"Justin didn't have much command, but give Rodriguez credit. He always seemed to have the right pitch," Trapasso said.

Luis Avila walked to start the fourth and took second on Matt Inouye's single. Esteban Lopez grounded into a double play, moving Avila at third. Eli Christensen's double down the right-field line scored Avila.

Hee singled to center and advanced to third on Wilder's ground-rule double to center to start the fifth. DuPree fanned, but Frash walked to load the bases.

Rodriguez extricated himself from the jam by retiring Avila on a foul pop to first and getting Inouye to ground into a fielder's choice, forcing Frash at second.

Hawaii loaded the bases again in the seventh with one out on a walk to Wilder, DuPree's single and a walk to Frash. Rodriguez caught Avila looking for the second out, but Inouye's double to right brought in two runs.

Dorsett replaced Rodriguez and fanned Lopez on three pitches to end the inning.

"We were fortunate to get key hits when we had to," said Nevada coach Gary Powers. "Rodriguez made big pitches in key situations to keep Hawaii from coming back."

The Rainbow pitchers walked a season-high 10 batters and Lopez, UH's catcher, was ejected by plate umpire Darrel Mason for arguing balls and strikes in the eighth inning.