'Bows eke out win
POSTED: Saturday, April 18, 2009
Two long balls provided Jayson Kramer all the run support he needed—barely.
Kevin Macdonald and Kolten Wong hit home runs and Kramer allowed two runs over eight innings as the Rainbows held on to defeat Sacramento State 5-4 in the opener of a four-game Western Athletic Conference series last night at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 2,625 saw the Hornets pull within a run on a two-run homer by Brent Hoffman in the ninth inning off reliever Sam Spangler. But the sophomore left-hander came back to strike out two and got Derrick Chung to line out to center to earn his third save.
Hawaii (22-12, 5-3) pulled within a half-game of Nevada for the league lead, while the Hornets (20-15, 1-4) lost for the fifth time in their last eight games.
“;Jumping on them early was big, but I was really disappointed that we seemed to go into cruise control after going up 5-1,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;Kramer was really solid. I could have sent him out there in the ninth inning, but he was at 91 pitches and we had a three-run lead.”;
Kramer evened his record at 3-3, pitching into the eighth inning for the fourth time this season. The Hornets loaded the bases in the top of the eighth trailing 5-1 and had the meat of their lineup at the plate.
After a quick trip to the mound by Trapasso, Kramer got Tim Wheeler to ground into a fielder's choice and struck out Blake Crosby on three pitches for the second out. Jeff Roth hit an RBI single to cut the deficit to three, but Kramer got Josh Powers to ground out on his 91st pitch to end the inning.
“;Coach came up and blew some smoke up me,”; Kramer said. “;It really, really woke me up and he pretty much said you've got to trust me.”;
Both hits that helped load the bases came on pitches where Kramer shook off what was called and chose to instead use his changeup.
“;Twice he shook his sinker off to go to change when we're looking for ground balls and double plays,”; Trapasso said. “;Sometimes he falls in love with the changeup too much and yet he was able to manage the inning.”;
Macdonald got things going with a two-run homer in the first inning off of Hornets starter Chris Baek. Baek pitched into the third inning, but didn't record an out as Wong tagged him for a three-run homer and Landon Hernandez and Jeff Van Doornum followed with singles to end Baek's night. He allowed five runs and six hits in two innings and walked three without a strikeout to fall to 3-4 for the season.
Crosby finished 0-for-4 for the Hornets to end his 18-game hitting streak.
The teams return to the field today for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. Freshman Matt Sisto (4-2, 3.80) will start the first game, while Nate Klein (0-2, 4.71 ERA) takes the hill in the nightcap.
WAC Standings
| Conference | Overall |
||||||
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W | L | ||
| Nevada | 6 | 3 | .667 | — | 17 | 18 | |
| San Jose State | 5 | 3 | .625 | 1/2 | 24 | 11 | |
| New Mexico State | 6 | 4 | .600 | 1/2 | 31 | 7 | |
| Hawaii | 4 | 3 | .571 | 1 | 21 | 12 | |
| Fresno State | 2 | 2 | .500 | 1 1/2 | 18 | 16 | |
| Sacramento State | 1 | 3 | .250 | 2 1/2 | 20 | 14 | |
| Louisiana Tech | 1 | 7 | .125 | 4 1/2 | 14 | 16 |
Yesterday
Hawaii 5, Sacramento State 4
Fresno State at Louisiana Tech, PPD., rain
New Mexico State 9, Nevada 6
UC Santa Barbara 7, San Jose State 6
Today
Sacramento State at Hawaii (2), 3 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
Fresno State at Louisiana Tech (2)
New Mexico State at Nevada
San Jose State at UC Santa Barbara
Tomorrow
Sacramento State at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
Fresno State at Louisiana Tech (2)
New Mexico State at Nevada
San Jose State at UC Santa Barbara
Hawaii 5, Sacramento St. 4
| Sac. St. | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI |
|
| Martinez 2b | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Garcia ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Chung ss | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Montplaisir lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wheeler cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Catricala 3b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Crosby 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Macdonald 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| Roth rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Wong cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Powers 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hernandez c | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Crouch | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Van Doornum dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Espana ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Roquemore rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Lamb dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Morford 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hottman c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Totals | 35 | 4 | 9 | 4 | Totals | 31 | 5 | 9 | 5 |
| Sac St. | 001 | 000 | 012 | — | 4 | 9 | 1 |
|
| Hawaii | 203 | 000 | 00x | — | 5 | 9 | 0 |
E—Martinez. DP—Sacramento 3; Hawaii 1. LOB—Sacramento 7, Hawaii 8. 2B—Wheeler; Roquemore. HR—Hottman; Macdonald; Wong. HBP—Hottman; Garcia; Roquemore. SB—Wheeler; Hernandez.
| Sacramento St. | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|
| Baek (L, 3-4) | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | |
| Taku | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Harrison | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|
| Kramer (W, 3-3) | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Spangler | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Umpires—Tony Norris(Plate); Greg Charles (First); Ted Kovach(Third).
T—2:48. A—N/A.
