Slaats, Rainbows gain split
POSTED: Saturday, March 06, 2010
Whatever problems that ailed junior Josh Slaats in the past looked to be long gone.
The junior right-hander met The Citadel's overpowering lineup head on and held the Bulldogs to two hits over seven innings as Hawaii earned a split of yesterday's doubleheader with a 9-0 win in the nightcap at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbows (5-6) snapped a three-game losing streak after the Bulldogs (7-2) took the first game 9-5 behind another huge game from Nick Orvin.
Slaats wowed a crowd of 1,397 by taking a perfect game into the fourth inning and faced the minimum 15 batters through five. He took a no-hit bid into the sixth, when William Ladd's two-out single fell just in front of the glove of Breland Almadova in center. After Orvin's single put men on the corners, Slaats struck out Brad Felder to end the inning.
“;I just wanted to be aggressive and attack them,”; Slaats said. “;I got lucky and left some pitches up and they hit hard ones at guys, but their bats were flat and I was on today.”;
After rough outings from Nate Klein and Matt Sisto in the first two games of the series, Slaats stated his case to be the Rainbows' Friday night starter at the top of the rotation. He struck out seven and walked one in 82 pitches to improve to 1-0 with an 0.52 ERA in 17 1/3 innings this season.
“;(The Citadel's) first-base coach was like, 'How is that guy not your Friday night guy?' “; first baseman Kevin Macdonald said. “;He was unreal.”;
Macdonald, Greg Garcia and Pi'ikea Kitamura all hit two-run homers in the second game to pace the 'Bows. Kitamura and Garcia both homered during the fourth inning and Garcia's was of the inside-the-park variety after bouncing his ball off the wall in right field.
Hawaii shuffled its lineup yesterday, moving Macdonald, who was 2-for-27 to start the season, into the seventh spot. Sean Montplaisir hit in the leadoff spot in place of Almadova, who was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Thursday.
Macdonald responded well to the change, hitting opposite-field home runs in both games and finishing 3-for-7 with two walks, three RBIs and four runs scored.
“;I give all the credit in the world to Coach Trap,”; Macdonald said. “;I'm still the same guy. I was a little funky the other day and I got rid of a little leg kick and just tried to see the ball better.”;
Collin Bennett, who moved into Macdonald's cleanup spot, hit an RBI single in the first inning of the first game to get things going. Macdonald led off the second with a solo home run to right and Hawaii scored twice more to tie the game at 4-all.
From there it was all Bulldogs, as Orvin continued to roll up UH pitching, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored. Kyle Jordan, son of The Citadel coach Fred Jordan, went 3-for-4 with a homer, and Matt Simonelli put the game out of reach with a two-run double in the seventh.
“;They're aggressive early, but yet they have a great two-strike approach,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;That first game ... everything they hit finds a hole.”;
Amber Wojciechowski (3-0) allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings to pick up the win. Sisto (1-2) took the loss for the Rainbows, allowing eight runs on 10 hits in six innings.
The sophomore right-hander came out for the seventh inning with Hawaii trailing 6-5 and was quickly pulled after a leadoff single and double put two men in scoring position. Blair Walters replaced Sisto and immediately surrendered a two-run double to Simonelli and an RBI single to Jordan to give the Bulldogs a 9-5 lead.
“;I sent (Sisto) out because I want our starters to get a little more extended,”; Trapasso said. “;We need to get those guys up above 100 pitches, because when you're thin in the bullpen your starters may have to give you extra pitches to stay in games.”;
Hawaii left 12 runners on base, including two each in the final two innings. The Rainbows had men on first and second with one out in the eighth, but couldn't convert. In the ninth, a single by David Freitas and a walk by Jeff Van Doornum put Hawaii in a similar situation, but Macdonald flied out to center and Kitamura grounded out to second to end the game.
UH again changed things up in the second game, batting freshman Kalani Brackenridge in the leadoff spot and moving Almadova to the nine hole.
Hawaii scored in the first inning for the third straight game, as Kolten Wong drew a two-out walk and scored on a throwing error by The Citadel starter Matt Talley. Talley had Wong picked off at first, but his throw got past David Greene and rolled all the way to the fence, allowing the speedy Wong to score all the way from first on the play.
Backup catcher Kevin Fujii increased UH's lead to two with an RBI single in the second inning to score Macdonald, who drew a one-out walk. UH had runners on first and second, but Almadova and Brackenridge struck out to end the inning.
Talley (1-1) took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing seven runs on four hits in four innings with four walks and three strikeouts.
Lefty Sam Spangler (0-2, 4.32 ERA) will try to give the Rainbows a split of the four-game series today against The Citadel's Michael Clevinger (1-1, 4.50). First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.
GAME 1
The Citadel 9, Hawaii 5
| Citadel | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Orvin cf | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Montplaisir cf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Felder dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Garcia ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Reifsnider ph/p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wong 2b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Simonelli rf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Bennett rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Altman c | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Freitas c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Greene 3b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Van Doornum dh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jordan ss | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Macdonald 1b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Mackert 1b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Kitamura 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jones | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Roquemore cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ladd | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Totals | 39 | 9 | 13 | 9 | Totals | 32 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| The Citadel | 130 | 101 | 300 | — | 9 | 13 | 2 | |||
| Hawaii | 130 | 010 | 000 | — | 5 | 8 | 0 |
E—Altman, Greene. DP—The Citadel 2. LOB—The Citadel 5; Hawaii 12. 2B—Orvin, Felder, Simonelli, Altman, Mackert, Ladd. 3B—Kitamura. HR—Orvn, Jordan, Macdonald. HBP—Montplaisir, Freitas. SH—Van Doornum. SB—Orvin, Mackert, Montplaisir, Van Doornum. CS—Jordan.
| The Citadel | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Wojciechowski (W, 3-0) | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Sprowls | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Copenhaver | 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Reifsnider (S, 1) | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Sisto (L, 1-2) | 6+ | 10 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Walters | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
HBP—by Wojiechowski (Freitas), by Sprowls (Montplaisir).
Umpires—Phil Benson (Plate); Danny Mascorro (First); David Natali (Third).
T—2:52.
GAME 2
Hawaii 9, the citadel 0
| Citadel | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI |
| Orvin cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Brackenridge lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Felder dh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Garcia ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Simonelli rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wong 2b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Altman c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bennett rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Darby pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Van Doornum dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Greene 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Torigoe ph | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jordan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Macdonald 1b | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Sims ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kitamura 3b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mackert 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Fujii c | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Richards 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Almadova cf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ladd lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Talley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Spillane | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Totals | 24 | 9 | 6 | 8 |
| The Citadel | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Hawaii | 111 | 420 | x | — | 8 | 1 | 0 |
E—The Citadel 4 (Talley 3, Greene), Hawaii 1 (Garcia). DP—The Citadel 1, Hawaii 1. LOB—The Citadel 3; Hawaii 6. HR—Garcia, Macdonald, Kitamura. HBP—Felder. SH—Brackenridge. SB—Wong. CS—Felder.
| The Citadel | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Talley (L, 1-1) | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Spillane | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Long | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Slaats (W, 1-0) | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
HBP—by Slaats (Felder). BK—Long.
Umpires—Danny Mascorro (Plate); David Natali (First); Phil Benson (Third).
T—2:05. A—1,397.
THURSDAY'S LATE BOX
The Citadel 12, Hawaii 8
| Citadel | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI |
| Orvin cf | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | Almadova cf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Felder dh | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Johnson ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Simonelli rf | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | Roquemore pr/cf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Altman c | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Garcia ss | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Greene 3b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Wong 2b | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Jordan ss | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Macdonald 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mackert 1b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Bennett rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jones 2b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Freitas c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ladd lf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Van Doornum dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Kitamura 3b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Montplaisir lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Totals | 39 | 12 | 14 | 11 | Totals | 36 | 8 | 10 | 7 |
| The Citadel | 101 | 020 | 422 | — | 12 | 14 | 1 | |||
| Hawaii | 101 | 004 | 020 | — | 8 | 1 | 0< |
p> E—Simonelli. DP—Hawaii 1. LOB—The Citadel 7; Hawaii 10. 2B—Orvin, Simonelli, Freitas, Van Doornum. 3B—Orvin, Garcia. HR—Greene, Garcia. HBP—Ladd, Macdonald, Bennett. SH—Ladd. SF—Montplaisir. SB—Orvin, Felder, Jordan 2, Ladd, Wong. CS—Montplaisir.
| The Citadel | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Clarkson | 5 1/3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Boyce (W, 2-0) | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Reifsnider | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Copenhaver | 2/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mahaffey (S, 4) | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Klein | 6 1/3 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| Capaul (W, 2-1) | 1/3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Little | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kuroda | 2/3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Walters | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
WP—Clarkson, Mahaffey, Kuroda 3. HBP—by Clarkson (Macdonald), by Klein (Ladd), by Reifsnider (Bennett). BK—Clarkson. PB—Altman.
Umpires—David Natali (Plate); Phil Benson (First); Danny Mascorro (Third).
T—3:38. A—1,072.
