Rainbows capture tourney in Oregon
POSTED: Monday, March 23, 2009
In the process of winning a tournament, the Hawaii baseball team found two arms capable of adding quality depth to the bullpen.
NEXT UP
|
Christian Johnson's pinch-hit home run in the top of the 12th inning made the work of freshmen Jesse Moore and Lenny Linsky count for something as Hawaii defeated Portland 9-8 in 12 innings to capture the Rose City Invitational championship yesterday at PGE Park in Portland, Ore.
Johnson's bomb down the right-field line broke an 8-8 tie that had lasted since the seventh inning. It made a winner out of Linsky (1-0), who pitched the final three innings, allowing two hits and two walks, but no runs.
Linsky, making his second appearance of the season, came on in relief of Moore, who went five innings in his collegiate debut. He allowed one run on three hits and walked one while striking out six to keep UH in the game after starter Connor Little was rocked for six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
“;Those guys were outstanding,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said of Linsky and Moore. “;They stepped up and showed they can be part of the mix to be two big parts of our bullpen.”;
Moore was out of action after breaking his thumb fielding a groundball a week before the season opener and Linsky hasn't had many opportunities to pitch with Hawaii's starters eating up the innings.
But with the team in the middle of a stretch of five games in four days, it forced Trapasso to throw his young guns on the mound in key situations, and they responded.
“;They answered the bell,”; Trapasso said. “;I didn't want to bring anybody back on short rest in this cold weather. To win this tournament the way we did with these freshmen coming through, it was big.”;
The two were able to keep a Pilots offense that scored 21 runs in two games against Hawaii in the last three days at bay until Johnson's long ball in the 12th.
He hit for Matt Roquemore with one out and smoked an 0-2 breaking ball down the right-field line for Hawaii's first run since the sixth inning.
“;I was a little disappointed we couldn't score,”; Trapasso said. “;(Johnson) smoked it down the line.”;
Landon Hernandez homered and drove in two runs and Jeff Van Doornum's two-run single highlighted a five-spot in the fourth inning as Hawaii took a 6-3 lead in the fourth after trailing 3-1.
Portland tied it at six in the bottom of the inning with three more runs that were charged to Little. Ryan Davis replaced him with two outs and two runners on and loaded the bases with a walk. Cort Carpenter followed with an RBI single and Davis walked in a run to tie the game at six.
“;(Little) was up in the zone and didn't have a breaking pitch to speak of really, but there's no fear in him,”; Trapasso said. “;We've just got to go to work on his breaking ball.”;
Kolten Wong, Vinnie Catricala and Kevin Macdonald all finished with two hits as Hawaii had 12 in the game.
The Rainbows (13-7) will try to win for the 11th time in 12 games when they close out their road trip today at Oregon State before returning home for a four-game series against Coastal Carolina beginning Thursday.
Hawaii 9, Portland 8
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | Portland | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Garcia ss | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kauppila ss | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| Wong cf | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Armjo 3b | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Catricala 3b | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Fraser dh | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Macdonald 1b | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Arbayo pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hernandez c | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Shaw ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Roquemore rf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Kraus lf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Johnson ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Powell 1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Van Doornum dh 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Carpenter ph | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Montplaisir lf | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Henricks 2b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Morford 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Pearce rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Little p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gale c | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Davis p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Queen cf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Moore p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Thompson p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Linsky p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wakefield p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Miller p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Brynteson p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Varce p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 47 | 9 | 12 | 9 | Totals | 46 | 8 | 13 | 5 |
| Hawaii 010 | 511 | 000 001 | — | 9 | 12 | 2 |
| Portland 201 | 310 | 100 000 | — | 18 13 | 0 |
E—Wong; Catricala. DP—Hawaii 1. LOB—Hawaii 8; Portland 14. 2B—Catricala; Macdonald; Montplaisir; Fraser. HR—Hernandez; Johnson; Kraus. HBP—Hernandez; Kraus. SH—Garcia; Armjo; Queen. SB—Wong; Pearce.
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Little | 3 2/3 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | |
| Davis | 1/3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Moore | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| Linsky (W, 1-0) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Portland | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Thompson | 3 1/3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | |
| Wakefield | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Miller | 2 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Brynteson | 3 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Varce (L, 1-4) | 1 2/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Umpires—Kendall Snyder (Plate); Frank Neves (First); Todd Ellis (Third).
T—4:06. A—1,839.
