Rainbows rule
POSTED: Saturday, April 04, 2009
The last time Jayson Kramer pitched, Hawaii got no-hit.
It was going to take a similar performance to beat Kramer and the 'Bows on this night.
The senior right-hander tossed eight scoreless innings and Vinnie Catricala supplied all the offense Hawaii needed in a 3-0 shutout of San Jose State to open the Western Athletic Conference season last night in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,597.
Catricala blasted a two-run homer off Spartans starter David Berner in the seventh inning that landed halfway up the tree behind the wall in left-center to increase Hawaii's lead to three.
Kramer (2-3) didn't need the extra two runs, as he combined with reliever Lenny Linsky to record the Rainbows' first shutout since April 20 of last year against Nevada.
“;(Kramer) was the story of the game,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;I was just as impressed with (Berner), but Jayson made some big pitches.”;
It's the third combined shutout for Kramer, but first as a starter. He matches his career high with eight innings, scattering six hits while walking two and striking out two.
“;I was just using my two-seamer pretty much the entire game and they were just banging it straight into the ground, which let me keep my pitch count down,”; Kramer said.
He threw 93 pitches in eight innings and recorded 20 of his 24 outs on ground balls. He walked his first batter of the game in the seventh and Karson Klauer drew a leadoff walk in the eighth; Kramer immediately got Jason Martin to ground into a double play, one of three on the day for the Spartans.
“;He was a little in and out of rhythm late, but was able to get his sinker into the zone to get a ground ball when he needed to,”; Trapasso said. “;We'll chalk that up to a good start and now we've got to do it again tomorrow.”;
Berner (5-1), who came into the game undefeated, was perfect through the order the first time around.
Greg Garcia got the 'Bows untracked with a leadoff triple in the fourth inning and scored on a RBI single by Ryan Morford that got past the second baseman and into right field.
Berner needed only four pitches to get through the sixth inning and kept the Spartans in it until Catricala stepped to the plate in the seventh.
After Morford led off the inning with a hit, Catricala smashed a 1-0 offering from Berner deep over the 365-foot sign in left-center, the ball disappearing into the tree behind the second wall.
“;It was more than a blast - it was Ruthian,”; Kramer said. “;That was huge. That got everyone off their seats in the stadium.”;
There wouldn't be any more scoring, but the Spartans gave it a run in the ninth off Linsky. The freshman right-hander issued a one-out walk to Jacob Burns and gave up a ground-rule double to Corey Valine with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate.
John Shaffer worked the count to 3-1 against Linsky, but eventually popped up to shallow center. Kolten Wong ran underneath it to give Linsky the first save of his career.
“;Lenny wasn't great, but he got the job done,”; Trapasso said.
The Rainbows (17-9, 1-0 WAC) won their league opener for the third year in a row and stretched their recent hot streak to 14-3 over the last 17 games.
Hawaii continues the series with the Spartans (19-6, 0-1) with today's doubleheader that starts at 3 p.m.
Jared Alexander (0-1, 4.58 ERA) will oppose Max Peterson (5-0, 2.70) in the first game, while Matt Sisto (3-1, 3.69) will face Ryan Shopshire (1-1, 4.79) in the nightcap.
WAC standings
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L |
|||
| New Mexico State | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | - | 26-3 | ||
| Hawaii | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | - | 17-9 | ||
| Nevada | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | - | 12-15 | ||
| Fresno State | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1/2 | 15-11 | ||
| San Jose State | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 19-6 | ||
| Sacramento State | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 16-10 | ||
| Louisiana Tech | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 12-10 |
Yesterday
Hawaii 3, San Jose State 0
Nevada 8, Louisiana Tech 5
New Mexico State 7, Sacramento State 6
Fresno State 9, Cal State Bakersfield 8
Today
San Jose State at Hawaii (2), 3 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
Sacramento State at New Mexico State (2)
Nevada at Louisiana Tech (2)
Cal State Bakersfield at Fresno State
Tomorrow
San Jose State at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
Sacramento State at New Mexico State
Nevada at Louisiana Tech
Cal State Bakersfield at Fresno State
Hawaii 3, San Jose State 0
| San Jose St. | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI |
|
| Hertler 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Garcia ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Klauer dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Morford 2b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Martin cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Catricala 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Bellows ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Macdonald 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Stienstra 1b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Wong cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bruns rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Hernandez c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Aguilera c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Van Doornum lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Canez ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Roquemore rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Valine 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Hoey dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heil pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Shaffer lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 32 | 0 | 7 | 0 | Totals | 28 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| San Jose State | 000 | 000 | 000 | - | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 000 | 100 | 20x | - | 3 | 7 | 2 |
E-Berner; Catricala; Hernandez. DP-SJSU 3; Hawaii 2. LOB-SJSU 9; Hawaii 1. 2B-Valine. 3B-Garcia. HR-Catricala. CS-Shaffer.
| San Jose State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|
| Berner (L, 5-1) | 8 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|
| Kramer (W, 2-3) | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Linsky (S, 1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Umpires-Kelly Gonzales (Plate); Jim Garmen (First); Jason Rogers(Third).
T-2:00. A- 2,597.
