Rainbows settle for split

STORY SUMMARY »

The UH baseball team threw away a chance to win a second consecutive series to start the season.

Three pitchers combined to give up seven hits, three walks and a hit batter all in one inning as San Francisco scored seven runs in the sixth to help blow out the Rainbows 11-3 yesterday in the finale of a four-game set at Les Murakami Stadium.

Dons senior Matt Lieb provided the crushing blow with a two-run homer off Rainbows starter Alex Capaul, who dropped to 0-2.

Vinnie Catricala broke out of a 3-for-18 slump with three hits and Brandon Haislet went 2-for-2 to raise his average to .476 for the year.

Capaul's start mirrored the one he had last week against Hawaii-Hilo. For three innings he was lights out, allowing just two hits without walking a batter. But as was the case against the Vulcans, who tagged him for four runs in the fourth, Capaul surrendered three this time as Lieb had a run-scoring single and Dane Braunecker hit a two-out, two-run single.

Lieb finished the game 2-for-4 with four RBIs, and Braunecker drove in three runs.

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Hawaii's first taste of a four-game series started with promise, but ended in disappointment.

San Francisco sent 13 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scored seven runs to blow the game open and give the Dons a series split with an 11-3 victory over Hawaii yesterday at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 720 watched the Rainbows drop the finale of the four-game set and fall to 4-3 for the season. San Francisco evened its record at 2-2.

"We're all disappointed by our performance today," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We just didn't get the job done on the mound."

The Dons burned a quartet of Hawaii pitchers for 14 hits and benefited from six walks and four hit batters.

Hawaii starter Alex Capaul gave up eight hits and six runs in five innings while striking out five and walking one in taking the loss.

Matt Lieb chased Capaul in the sixth with a towering two-run homer to right field. Ryan Lipkin led off with a double and scored on a single by Kyle Morgan before Lieb's bomb cleared the fence.

"I left Capaul in two hitters too much and didn't get him out in time," Trapasso said.

Reliever Jayson Kramer didn't fare any better, as Connor Bernatz singled to left before Dane Braunecker tagged an RBI double to right to score Bernatz. Tavo Hall became the seventh straight batter to get a hit for the Dons when his double to right scored Joey Railey after Braunecker was thrown out at home on a double-steal attempt.

The Rainbows used four pitchers in the sixth as Josh Schneider came in and recorded an out before allowing four straight Dons to reach base either by walk or a hit batter. Harrison Kuroda finally ended the inning by striking out Bernatz.

"We bring in two guys that are successful guys for us and they struggled getting outs and throwing strikes," Trapasso said. "Now you give up a four-spot on top of the three and the game is basically done."

Brandon Haislet went 2-for-2 with a solo homer and reached base in all four plate appearances to raise his on-base percentage above .600 for the season.

Hawaii opened with a run in the bottom of the first, but could have had a much bigger inning. The first three batters all reached base off of Dons starter Brian Anderson. Anderson walked in a run, but struck out three Rainbows with the bases loaded.

"We let them off the hook right out of the gate," Trapasso said. "They dodged a bullet for the most part in that first inning and then they took control."

San Francisco sent eight batters to the plate in the third and took a 3-1 lead. With two runners on and two outs, Lieb singled to pick up one run. After a walk to Bernatz, who pinch-hit for Sam Wiley, Braunecker punched a two-run single to left to give the Dons a lead they didn't relinquish.

Hawaii hits the road this week to take part in the Coca-Cola Classic in Arizona. The Rainbows will play four games, including two against nationally ranked foes. Friday's game is against Arizona State, which is ranked first in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 preseason poll, while the first of two games on Saturday is against Michigan, ranked 18th in the same poll and eighth in the Baseball America preseason poll.

San Francisco 11, Hawaii 3

USF	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI
Railey 2b	5	1	2	0	Hee 2b	3	1	0	0
Hall ss	6	1	1	1	Morford 2b	1	0	0	0
Kim cf/lf	2	1	1	0	DuPree lf	3	0	0	0
Ethel ph/cf	3	0	2	1	Montplaisir lf	0	1	0	0
Bialosky 1b	5	2	1	0	Haislet cf	2	1	2	1
Johnson lf	2	0	0	0	Roquemore cf	1	0	1	0
Lipkin c	2	1	1	0	Van Doornum dh	5	0	0	0
Morgan rf	4	1	1	2	Catricala 3b	5	0	3	1
Lieb dh	4	2	2	4	Macdonald 1b	3	0	0	1
Wiley c	1	0	0	0	Hernandez c	2	0	0	0
Bernatz ph/cf	2	2	1	0	Fujii pr/c	1	0	0	0
Braunecker 3b	2	0	2	3	Zimny rf	4	0	1	0
Escobar ph/3b	1	0	0	0	Garcia ss	4	0	1	0
Totals	39	11	14	11	Totals	34	3	8	3

USF	000	307	001	--	11	14	0
Hawaii	100	000	101	--	3	8	1

Hawaii 1. LOB--USF 11, Hawaii 13. 2B--Hall; Lipkin; Braunecker; Catricala. HR--Lieb; Haislet. HBP--Railey; Kim; Bialosky; Braunecker; Hee; Montplaisir; Hernandez. SB--Bernatz. CS--Braunecker.

USF	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Anderson (W, 1-0)	5	3	1	1	1	5
Oropeza	2	3	1	1	0	2
Burns	2	2	1	1	1	3

Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Capaul (L, 0-2)	5	8	6	6	1	5
Kramer	0.1	4	3	3	0	0
Schneider	0.1	0	1	1	3	0
Kuroda	3.1	2	1	1	2	5

HBP--by Anderson, (Hee); by Capaul (Braunecker); by Capaul (Kim); by Anderson (Hernandez); by Schneider (Bialosky); by Kuroda (Railey); by Burns (Montplaisir).

Umpires-- Travis Katzenmeier (plate); Ryan Arasato(first); Ken Eldridge (third).

T--3:41. A--720.