Rainbows earn split but lose Johnson to injury
POSTED: Sunday, April 18, 2010
Snapping a six-game losing streak at Hornet Field was of little condolence to the Hawaii baseball team.
The Rainbows lost senior Christian Johnson to a possible season-ending shoulder injury during yesterday's doubleheader split against host Sacramento State.
Johnson dislocated his shoulder diving for a foul ball in the sixth inning of the first game. The Rainbows lost 3-2 before bouncing back to win the second game 7-4 to keep alive hopes of a series split.
Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said trainers couldn't pop Johnson's shoulder back into place. He was then taken to a local hospital.
“;It's not good. It could be a season-ender,”; Trapasso said. “;It's unfortunate because he's really been swinging the bat well for us.”;
The 'Iolani grad entered the game tied for the team lead in home runs with five. He was 12-for-23 with four homers and 10 RBIs in his last nine games before yesterday and trails only Kolten Wong on the team with a .333 batting average.
The Rainbows (18-17, 2-5 Western Athletic Conference) handed the Hornets (13-18-1, 2-1) their first league loss, but remain at the bottom of the WAC standings.
Junior Jeff Van Doornum, who plays the same positions as Johnson, hit two home runs yesterday.
He drove in both of Hawaii's runs in the first game. Sam Spangler and Jesse Darrah battled each other in a pitcher's duel that Hawaii led 1-0 going into the seventh inning. The Hornets had three hits in the inning, including one on a ball that shortstop Greg Garcia lost in the sun. Spangler was pulled after walking Justin Lamb with the bases loaded and two outs, and reliever Jesse Moore hit the next batter with a pitch to give Sac State a 2-1 lead.
A.J. Nunez added an RBI single in the eighth for a much-needed insurance run. The Rainbows put the tying run on base when Van Doornum drove in Chase Koissian, who replaced Johnson in right field, with a single to make it 3-2. Andrew Galvan then got Kevin Macdonald to fly out to left to earn his fifth save.
Spangler (2-5) allowed two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings and lowered his ERA to 3.99, but was credited with his second straight tough loss.
“;The first game was incredibly disappointing because Sam pitched so good,”; Trapasso said. “;He gives up two runs because we lose a ball in the sun.
“;Our luck is just going bad in a bunch of ways that you don't think about it, but reality is, we couldn't score enough runs, and trying to hold a 1-0 lead in college baseball isn't going to happen often.”;
Hawaii's offense came alive with five runs in the third inning of the second game to take a 7-4 lead. Collin Bennett, who had been in a 2-for-21 slump, hit a key two-out RBI double and Van Doornum drove in his fifth run of the day with a single as Hawaii managed five hits in the inning.
Sophomore Matt Sisto allowed four runs in two innings, but Moore (1-1) came in and pitched four shutout innings of relief to earn his first win. Lenny Linsky closed the door in the seventh to pick up the save.
“;Jesse did a great job settling the game down and we were much better offensively,”; Trapasso said.
Zach Gallagher (3-2, 4.88) will get the start in today's series finale beginning at 10 a.m.
WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
| W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Ovr. | |
| Sacramento State | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | — | 13-18-1 |
| New Mexico State* | 3 | 2 | 1 | .600 | 1/2 | 25-12-1 |
| Fresno State | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 2 | 21-16 |
| Louisiana Tech | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 2 | 19-15 |
| San Jose State | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 1 1/2 | 14-19 |
| Nevada* | 1 | 2 | 1 | .333 | 1 1/2 | 19-13-1 |
| Hawaii | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 2 | 18-17 |
Yesterday
Sacramento State 3, Hawaii 2
Hawaii 7, Sacramento State 4
Louisiana Tech 13, Fresno State 5
Fresno State 14, Louisiana Tech 4
San Jose State 11, New Mexico State 6
Nevada 22, Seattle 0
Today
Hawaii at Sacramento State, 10 a.m.
New Mexico State at San Jose State
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State
Nevada at Seattle U.
Tomorrow
New Mexico State at San Jose State
Tuesday
Hawaii at Centenary, 1 p.m.
UC Davis at Nevada
Sacramento State at St. Mary's (Calif.)
SACRAMENTO STATE 3, HAWAII 2 GAME 1
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | Sac State | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Montplaisir lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Ayers 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Garcia ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | McCarthy lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wong 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Chilton ph/lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Freitas c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Powers 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Johnson rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Paine dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Koissian rf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Bloom rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bennett cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Nunez ph/rf | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Van Doornum dh | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Young ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Macdonald 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Mezzaneras cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Kitamura 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Miller 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Lamb 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| Totals | 32 | 2 | 6 | 2 | Totals | 30 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| Hawaii | 000 | 010 | 001 | — | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Sacramento State | 000 | 000 | 21x | — | 3 | 7 | 0 |
DP—Hawaii 1. LOB—Hawaii 6; Sac State 6. 2B—Macdonald; Mezzaneras. HR—Van Doornum. SB—Powers.
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Spangler (L, 2-5) | 6 2/3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Moore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Walters | 1/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Linsky | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sacramento State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Darrah (W, 3-2) | 7 2/3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Todd | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Galvan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Chamberlin (S, 5) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
HBP—by Moore (Ayers), by Allianic (Paine).
Umpires—Pat Riley (Plate); Rick Scarbery (First); Chris Thomas (Third). T—2:30.
HAWAII 7, SACRAMENTO STATE 4 GAME 2
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | Sac State | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Montplaisir lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Powers 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Kitamura ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ayers 2b | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| Wong 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Young ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Freitas dh | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Paine dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Van Doornum rf | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Chilton lf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Garcia ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Nunez rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Macdonald cf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Baskett cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Fujii c | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | Mezzaneras cf | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Miller 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Lamb c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 29 | 7 | 13 | 6 | Totals | 28 | 4 | 9 | 4 |
| Hawaii | 025 | 000 | 0 | — | 7 | 13 | 0 |
| Sacramento State | 310 | 000 | 0 | — | 4 | 9 | 2 |
E—Nunez; Baskett. DP—Hawaii 1; Sac State 2. LOB—Hawaii 8; Sac State 5. 2B—Bennett; Nunez. 3B—Powers. HR—Van Doornum. SF—Garcia. CS—Wong; Ayers.
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Sisto | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | |
| Moore (W, 1-1) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Linsky (S, 7) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sacramento State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Creel | 1 1/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |
| Todd (L, 1-4) | 1 1/3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Guglielmo | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Elrod | 4 1/3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Umpires—Rick Scarbery (Plate); Chris Thomas (First); Pat Riley (Third). T—2:05. A—293.
