Sanchez helps Rainbows even series

The Hawaii first baseman collects three extra-base hits to give UH a win over Georgia Southern

Kris Sanchez went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a triple to lead Hawaii past Georgia Southern 5-3 last night at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hawaii    GSU 5 3 Next Up vs. Georgia Southern today

Sanchez's two-run double in the fifth inning provided the difference as the Rainbows (3-2) evened their series with the Eagles (1-1) at a game apiece.

"The ball's looking pretty big right now," said Sanchez, the WAC's reigning Hitter of the Week. "It's nothing complicated; I just hope I can continue it."

Sanchez, who has hit safely in all five UH games, is batting .650 (13-for-20) for the season.

"He's in one of those grooves where he's seeing things well," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "You hope he gets up with guys on base every time."

A crowd of 1,542 watched as Hawaii also got strong pitching from starter and winner Mark Rodrigues (2-0) and Matt Daly, who combined on a seven-hitter. Daly threw four scoreless innings for his first save.

Daly retired the first 10 batters he faced before A.J. Wirnsberger walked with one out in the ninth. Chris Hollis followed with a single off first baseman Sanchez's glove, Wirnsberger holding at second.

Daly got out of the jam and ended the game by striking out Jeremy Beckham and getting Matt Miller to fly out to center.

"That makes it a little exciting for everyone," Daly said with a smile afterward. "The fastball was working best for me, so I stayed with that most of the time."

The Rainbows also took advantage of four Georgia Southern errors, including two in the first inning when UH, which never trailed, went up 2-0.

Jorge Franco reached on a fielding error by third baseman Chris Shehan. Franco stole second and continued to third on a bad throw by catcher Jeremiah Parker. Franco then scored on Justin Frash's medium-deep fly ball.

Brandon Haislet came up next and crushed starter and loser Drew Murray's 2-0 pitch over the second fence in left, about 375 feet from home plate.

"I got the green light and was looking for a fastball and I got it," Haislet said of his first UH career homer. "It felt good to get one out of the way. If you hit the ball hard enough times good things happen."

Sanchez then hit one about as far, but to a bigger part of the park in center. He ended up on third with a triple, but finished the inning there, too, as Eli Christensen struck out.

"We didn't work ahead and (Sanchez) knew on those counts he's probably going to get a fastball and he jumped on them," GSU coach Rodney Hennon said.

The Eagles scored a run in the third on doubles by Shehan and Hollis.

UH made it 3-1 in the third with more help from the Eagles. Frash walked and moved to second on Sanchez's single. Frash scored on a wild pickoff throw to first by Parker.

GSU tied it at 3 in the fourth when two unearned runs scored after a controversial call by first-base umpire Dan Farnsworth, who called Shehan safe on a close play when Sanchez caught a low throw from Christensen on a bounce.

Frash walked and Haislet was hit by a pitch to start UH's fifth, and left-hander Aaron Eubanks relieved Murray (0-1) to face the left-handed-hitting Sanchez, who cracked Eubanks' first delivery off the fence in right-center, scoring both runners. The Rainbows led 5-3.

Daly relieved Rodrigues to start the sixth. In his five innings, Rodrigues yielded six hits, striking out four and walking two.

Shehan greeted Daly with a deep drive to center. Haislet tracked the fly down, but dropped it. He recovered in time to get the ball quickly to relay man Nate Young, who made a good throw to Frash at third in time to nab Shehan on a close play.

"Getting that out at third gave everyone a shot of adrenaline," said Trapasso, who's team was charged with five errors in Thursday's 13-11 loss to the Eagles. "And Matt was very good."

Daly struck out six and walked one and allowed one hit.

Sanchez came within a few feet of hitting for the cycle, as his blast to left in the seventh nearly cleared the fence for his first homer. He ended up on second with his second double of the night and fifth in five games this season.

GSU walked seven batters.

"You fall behind in the count and you walk too many batters and it catches up with you every time," Hennon said.

Trapasso said his starter in the 1:05 p.m. series finale today will come from among Josh Schneider, Nick Rhodes and Tyler Davis. Georgia Southern lists freshman righty Brian Wilkerson as its starter.

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