Rainbows stay hot, drop Broncos
POSTED: Wednesday, April 08, 2009
SANTA CLARA » Santa Clara head coach Mark O'Brien was up out of the dugout before the ping off of Jeff Van Doornum's bat had finished reverberating in the air. He strode like a power walker in the mall, extending his arm toward pitcher Cory Hall, demanding that Hall surrender the ball as quickly as possible.
That the scene took place just two outs into yesterday's game tells you all you need to know. No. 23 Hawaii jumped on Hall for four quick runs and went on to an easy 8-4 victory in a nonconference game at Schott Stadium.
The Rainbows (20-10) showed why they are ranked 23rd in the country by Baseball America, winning for the seventh time in their last eight games. Kevin Macdonald went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Landon Hernandez put the game away with a two-run homer in the seventh.
Alex Capaul (1-1) went six innings in his second start of the season, allowing three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts.
“;The ability to score in the first puts your starting pitcher at ease, which is the main thing we were concerned about going into the game because he only had (three) appearances,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;He threw strikes because he had a lead and allowed us to force contact.”;
“;It makes you settle down,”; Capaul said of the early lead. “;Once you get a lead you just have to keep it.”;
It was also important that the Rainbows jump on a Santa Clara team that has now lost 10 consecutive games. The Broncos (10-17) were coming off a three-game sweep at home to San Diego in which they were outscored 53-19.
“;We emphasized (getting on them early) because we know they had a tough weekend,”; Trapasso said. “;The thing about Santa Clara is that they can swing the bats.”;
Macdonald got the Warriors going with a two-run double down the right-field line in the first inning. Kolten Wong singled in Macdonald and Van Doornum knocked both Wong in and Hall out.
O'Brien wasn't done acting quickly. When Matt Long was called out on a close play leading off the bottom of the first, O'Brien came out to argue the call. First base umpire Greg Charles ejected the coach.
The Broncos stayed in the game through the middle innings, cutting the score to 5-3 in the fifth on Long's RBI triple. In the top of the seventh, Macdonald added a run-scoring single and Hernandez followed with his shot to left.
“;I was just trying to get a hit because I was struggling a little bit tonight,”; Hernandez said. “;It was a change-up. They had been throwing me change-ups all night so I was just kind of sitting.”;
Josh Slaats took over for Capaul and threw two scoreless innings before Lenny Linsky allowed a run in the ninth inning.
Hawaii 8, Santa Clara 4
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | Santa Clara | AB | R | H | BI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garcia ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Long cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Morford 2b | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Wagner 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Catricala 3b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Karcich ss | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Macdonald 1b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Klein c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Wong cf | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Fuerst 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hernandez c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Biancardi dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Van D'rnum dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Heintz pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Montplaisir lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Abrahama 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roquemore rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Madden rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Johnson ph/rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Parra lf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Herbst ph/lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 33 | 8 | 7 | 8 | Totals | 31 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| Hawaii | 401 | 000 | 300 | — | 8 | 7 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | 101 | 010 | 001 | — | 4 | 8 | 2 |
E—Montplaisir; Klein; Furest. DP—Hawaii 1; Santa Clara 3. 2B—Macdonald; Wong; Wagner; Karcich; Klein 2. 3B—Long; Madden. HR—Hernandez. SF—Montplaisir. SB—Garcia 2; Morford; Wong 2; Van Doornum. CS—Karcich.
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capaul (W, 1-1) | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| Slaats | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Linsky | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Santa Clara | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Hall (L, 0-4) | 2/3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Westerberg | 4 1/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| Twining | 1 1/3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Kalush | 2 2/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Umpires—Kevin Sweeney (Plate); Greg Charles (First); Jeff Henrichs (Third).
T—3:00 A—316.
