’Bows get 2 in a row

Santa Clara puts up a fight, but Hawaii keeps winning

This might be a big win for a team establishing its identity.

Hawaii battled for nine innings to out-scrap Santa Clara 5-4 yesterday. It wasn't especially pretty, but it's the kind of victory that could lead to more in later weeks.

Hawaii    Santa Clara 5 4 Next Up vs. Santa Clara today

A gathering of 1,079 at Les Murakami Stadium saw the Rainbows get just enough of everything -- including help from the Broncos -- to win their second in a row of the three-game season-opening series.

"There's a lot of younger guys on the team that haven't been involved in a game like this at this level," said UH senior right-hander Tyler Davis, who pitched the final 3 2/3 innings for his first save. "So it's good for them to see we can come out as a whole team and win a game like this. It's a good test, especially this early in the season."

Starter Mark Rodrigues and Davis combined to allow 10 hits and walk one batter and hit four others. But they generally pitched well in clutch situations and got defensive help when needed. Santa Clara left 11 runners on base after stranding 10 in UH's 8-1 win on Friday night.

"There was some good and bad. I went out there and threw my curveball and changeup for strikes. My fastball wasn't really there, so I went with what I had," said Rodrigues, who left in the sixth inning with one out, runners on first and second and a 4-2 lead.

Davis, who inherited a 2-0 count, retired Jon Karcich and Gabe Alcantar to end the threat.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said the pesky Broncos are a good test for the Rainbows pitchers (who have combined to strike out just one batter in 18 innings.)

"This will be the best two-strike-approach team we'll face this year. They're almost impossible to strike out," Trapasso said. "They're always going to put the ball in play and they do a nice job of hitting the ball to all fields."

Evan Zimny whacked a two-out, two-run double on an 0-2 pitch in UH's four-run fourth inning and Jorge Franco hit a 330-foot solo home run in the seventh to key the Rainbows offense. UH mustered just seven hits.

"When you're able to win a game when you're out-hit, that means you're getting some timely hits or you're getting help or you're getting some big outs at the right time. Or all of that," Trapasso said.

The help came when Alcantar -- Santa Clara's hottest hitter -- made a huge mental error on defense.

After Zimny's double off the right-center-field wall scored Brandon Haislet and Kris Sanchez to tie the game at 2, Landon Hernandez hit a grounder to Alcantar at third. Instead of throwing to first to retire Hernandez and end the inning, Alcantar ran to the base and then headed for the dugout. Routine force play -- except first base was empty and Zimny wasn't forced.

"I was thinking I was going to run into the out and have him tag me," said Zimny, who ended up safe at third. "But you could tell he had no clue what he was doing. He just ran by the bag. He wasn't paying attention, I guess."

Ryan Asato, Franco and Nate Young followed with singles, giving Hawaii a 4-2 lead. It might have been more, if not for Franco getting caught in a rundown between second and third to finally end the inning.

Alcantar, who is 6-for-8 at the plate in the series, was not available for comment.

"Gabe's one of the hardest-working guys on our team," Santa Clara coach Mark O'Brien said. "Nobody feels worse about it than he will. What I liked about it is he came back and got a clutch hit for us. He didn't pout and kept sticking to his game. He'll be in there tomorrow and we'll go right back to it."

Carl Bacon's safety squeeze and Ryan Conan's single to left gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead in the second. The Rainbows snuffed a bigger inning when Alcantar's double ended with a relay from left fielder Franco to shortstop Eli Christensen to catcher Hernandez to nail Karcich at the plate.

"I was just trying to get the ball in as soon as possible and hit the cutoff and let Eli Christensen do the rest," Franco said. "He made a good throw."

An errant toss to first by Christensen in the seventh allowed Santa Clara's Tommy Medica to reach, and he scored on Nathan Faulkner's single. That narrowed UH's lead to 4-3.

Franco moved it back to a 2-run cushion in the bottom of the inning, connecting with a 2-2 pitch for the first home run in his UH career and the Rainbows' first of the season. He said he noticed a Santa Clara tendency to throw a certain pitch deep in the count.

"I already knew what was coming, I was set for fastball in. And I got it, and I took advantage of it," he said.

Santa Clara continued to fight back, though, with a run in the eighth. Davis hit Karcich with a pitch, Alcantar doubled him to third and Kevin Drever plated him with a fly to Franco.

Matt Long led off the ninth with a single, but the Broncos couldn't get into scoring position and Young made a nice snag of Bacon's line drive to end the game.

"Today shows we can scrap, too," said Zimny, a JC-transfer right fielder who is 4-for-8 so far as a Rainbow. "Kind of important to show in a one-run game our team's not going to fold. Our pitchers are going to come in and they're going to do what they need to do and they're not going to buckle under pressure. So it's really good everyone performed in a close game."

Either right-hander Matt Daly or left-hander Nick Rhodes will start today's 1:05 p.m. series finale, Trapasso said. Right-hander Justin Kuehn is expected to go for Santa Clara.

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