’Bows rally past Pack

Hawaii scores twice in the bottom of the eighth to take the series

Vinnie Catricala is the baseball equivalent of a gym rat. He's the guy who spends every free moment he can in the batting cage, whacking ball after ball, working on his swing.

Hawaii    Nevada 5 4 Next Up vs. SJSU on Friday

"Oh, yes, I'm in there as much as possible, early before practice. Three or 4 hours extra a week," the Hawaii freshman said. "I'm there so much that some of the other guys tease me about it."

The Rainbows are actually happy the part-time designated hitter and third baseman invests the extra time. It paid off yesterday, as Catricala belted a double to start a two-run eighth-inning rally leading to UH's 5-4 comeback win over Nevada. The victory gave the Rainbows the series, two games to one, and an early jump in the Western Athletic Conference standings.

A crowd of 1,230 at Les Murakami Stadium was treated to a third game in a row that went down to the wire. Hawaii improved to 21-9 overall and Nevada fell to 15-14.

Catricala, who also singled and walked yesterday as UH's designated hitter, knocked in two runs with a ninth-inning double Saturday. But Hawaii's rally fell short in that game and the Rainbows lost by the same score they won by yesterday.

Catricala went 0-for-3 in UH's season opener and didn't play again for seven games. He has made just 51 plate appearances in his college career, but he raised his batting average yesterday to .302.

"He's been hitting the ball great lately," said UH right-hander Tyler Davis, who improved to 4-0 with 2 2/3 innings of one-run, one-hit relief. "He did the same thing all fall. We knew he was going to be a good player. Maybe he was just getting the pace of it his first couple of games. But now he's starting to get into a rhythm."

Landon Hernandez struck out for the second out after Catricala's double in the eighth yesterday, but Eli Christensen picked up something from the on-deck circle that helped.

"They'd thrown Landon a slider on the full-count right before me," he said. "I figured they'd come with the same pitch. I was waiting for it."

A slider is what Christensen got on 3-2 from Kody Keroher (the Nevada righty who also served up Evan Zimny's three-run walkoff homer Friday). Christensen went with the pitch and blasted it into the right-center gap and over the fence for a ground-rule double. Then Jon Hee came through with what turned out to be the game-winner, a sharp single to right. Christensen beat the throw to home, and Davis got the side out in order in the ninth.

Rainbows coach Mike Trapasso said he was pleased with the clutch hitting, as well as Davis' gritty performance and some timely defense.

"We played tough today. We made some mistakes, but we had the toughness I thought we had lacked except for the ninth inning the last two nights," Trapasso said. "They take the lead, and you can see the wind go out of our guys' sails, and Vinnie put it back in there. Getting that double, all of a sudden we're one away from tying it. Then two huge, huge hits by Eli and Jon after it."

Davis entered in the eighth with two-on, one-out and the score tied at 3. Matt Suleski hit a hard grounder to shortstop Christensen's right. He ranged for it and started a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

"That was a really nice play Eli made, having to go to his right a little bit," Davis said. "A perfect throw to Jon and Jon turned it great, good stretch (by Kris Sanchez at first), great all-around play."

Davis had trouble finding the strike zone in the eighth. Two walks and Nick Sansone's single gave the Wolf Pack a 4-3 lead.

"The last three innings the momentum just continued to shift," Trapasso said. "We were fortunate to get the hits and Tyler just gutted it out because he was running on empty there today at the end."

Davis made a fine play on a dribbler far to his right to get Shaun Kort for the first out of the ninth.

"It might have saved the game, too. That was a heckuva play," Trapasso said. "You don't see that very often. The quickness he showed getting off that mound and making that throw."

The basepaths were dangerous trails for the Wolf Pack in the middle innings. Suleski was caught off third to end the third, Konrad Schmidt was nailed trying for home from first on David Ciarlo's double in the fourth, and center fielder Brandon Haislet got his second assist of the game by pegging out Sansone going for a double in the fifth.

UH's defense later in the game atoned for sloppy play early, including Sanchez's first throwing error of the season. Nevada scored two unearned runs in the first off Rainbows starter Josh Schneider.

Sanchez came back with an RBI single in the bottom half, scoring Justin Frash who had walked with two outs and advanced on Haislet's infield single. Hawaii went up 3-2 in the second on Catricala and Hernandez singles, Nate Young's sacrifice fly, Hee's successful hit-and-run single, and Derek DuPree's RBI double.

The Rainbows host San Jose State (16-10, 1-2) in a three-game series starting Friday before leaving for a seven-game road trip.