’Bows get a ‘W’

Hawaii clinched fifth place in the Western Athletic Conference final regular season baseball standings with a 7-6 victory over Fresno State yesterday at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hawaii    Fresno St. 7 6 Next Up vs. Fresno State today

Fresno State scored two runs in the ninth inning after two outs, but Nick Rhodes came in to strike out Steve Susdorf with runners on first and third and save Mark Rodrigues' victory.

Rodrigues (9-3) pitched five innings of two-hit ball and Landon Hernandez went 2-for-4 with a two-run double to lead the Rainbows.

Justin Frash and Brandon Haislet also had two hits each, and Frash delivered a two-run single in the eighth that provided what proved to be the winning runs.

Hawaii (32-23, 10-13 WAC) snapped a six-game WAC losing streak against first-place Fresno State (32-26, 17-6).

UH closes its regular season against Fresno State tonight at 6:35 p.m. and opens WAC tournament play in Reno on Thursday against host Nevada.

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Hawaii snapped its six-game Western Athletic Conference baseball losing streak yesterday, but not in quite the fashion coach Mike Trapasso would've liked.

The Rainbows led by five runs after seven innings, but barely held on for a 7-6 win over Fresno State as 2,053 watched at Les Murakami Stadium.

The victory assures Hawaii won't be the lowest-seeded team in next week's WAC tournament, but clinched a tough assignment for the Rainbows anyway. Since UH will be the second-to-last team in the six-school WAC tourney, it opens Thursday at 4 p.m. at Peccole Park against No. 2 seed and host Nevada and one of the league's best pitchers in Ryan Rodriguez.

"It doesn't matter. Whoever you play you have to play well," Trapasso said.

The Rainbows (32-23, 10-13 WAC) did so for most of yesterday afternoon against first-place Fresno State (33-27-6), but UH frittered away a big lead and nearly lost a fourth consecutive game to the Bulldogs in the last inning.

"You have two teams that are going to fight it out for nine innings," Bulldogs coach Mike Batesole said. "It'll probably happen again (today, in the final regular-season game for both teams)."

UH led all the way after taking a 4-0 lead in the fourth, and pitchers Mark Rodrigues and Matt Daly were in command until the eighth, when FSU scored four runs after Daly allowed a leadoff double and then four consecutive base runners after two outs.

Josh Schneider came in and gave up a two-run single to Ozzie Lewis before striking out Alan Ahmady to end the inning with UH leading 5-4.

UH got some necessary breathing room in its half of the eighth, thanks to Justin Frash's two-run single.

Fresno State put together three two-out singles in a row in the ninth off Schneider.

"Our bullpen lost focus in a game we should've put away," Trapasso said. "We did the same thing against them on the road. There's no excuse."

Finally, Nick Rhodes struck out Steve Susdorf with the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first for his first save.

"It was a big situation and he got one of their best hitters out," Trapasso said.

"It was a fun opportunity in a big situation," Rhodes said. "All year it's been a goal for me to ... be effective against lefties.

Rodrigues (9-3) got the win. He started and allowed just two hits in five innings with no strikeouts and no walks.

Trapasso said most of the Rainbows pitchers who weren't used in Saturday's and yesterday's games will pitch in tonight's regular-season finale. Game time is 6:35 p.m.