Rainbows lose momentum
POSTED: Monday, May 03, 2010
The Hawaii baseball team failed to capitalize on Saturday's thrilling sweep.
Instead, the Rainbows will have more than a week to ponder the mistakes that cost them a crucial series win against Nevada.
A day after pulling out consecutive one-run thrillers, the Rainbows wasted chance after chance and ultimately, a golden opportunity to climb the Western Athletic Conference standings, in an 8-7 loss to the Wolf Pack in 12 innings at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Wolf Pack scored with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to send the game into extras, where Hawaii got the leadoff man aboard in three straight innings.
All three times, however, the Rainbows failed to move the runner over on bunt attempts. The 12th inning was especially painful as Sean Montplaisir popped a bunt in the air that forced Collin Bennett to stop between first and second to see if the ball would be caught. Pitcher Tyler Graham, who allowed five runs in the ninth inning of Saturday's 10-9 loss to the 'Bows, fielded the ball off the ground and started a 1-3-6 double play as Bennett was thrown out at second.
An exasperated crowd of 1,102 saw the Rainbows (23-22, 6-10) miss out on climbing into third place in the conference with eight league games remaining.
A loss in their first extra-inning game of the season means the Rainbows will sit in a tie with Louisiana Tech for last place heading into a bye week. Hawaii doesn't play against until hosting league-leading New Mexico State on May 13.
Nevada (24-17-1, 5-6-1) took over third place with the win, moving a half-game ahead of Sacramento State and San Jose State.
“;We just didn't get it done,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;Very, very disappointing. There's nothing else you can say.”;
The game, which lasted 4 hours, 33 minutes, played out like a prize fight with two teams going back-and-forth against each other inning after inning. Nevada scored in five of the first six innings only to see Hawaii tie the game four times before taking its first lead in the seventh on an RBI single by Greg Garcia, who finished with four hits.
The Rainbows kept the 7-6 lead until the ninth, when closer Lenny Linsky gave up a two-out RBI single to Garrett Yrigoyen. It was the first blown save of the year for Linsky, whose nine saves are tied for the fifth most in a single season at UH.
Both teams left runners in scoring position in the extra frame. Zach Gallagher replaced Linsky in the 10th and Hawaii turned double plays in each of the next two innings.
Yrigoyen opened the 12th with a single and Kevin Rodland, who finished 5-for-7, singled with one out to put men on first and second. Kamehameha graduate Waylen Sing Chow, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth, lined out to left for the second out before Shaun Kort smoked a base hit to left to score Yrigoyen with the game-winning run.
“;They could have rolled over, but they didn't,”; Nevada coach Gary Powers said about his club. “;There was some doubts at times because we stubbed our own feet, but in all, I'm happy with their performance today because of what they did go through (on Saturday).”;
David Freitas went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored for Hawaii, which was out-hit 21-10.
Gallagher (3-4) allowed the one run in three innings to pick up the loss. Starter Connor Little struck out a career-high eight in 5 2/3 innings, but allowed six runs on 10 hits. Two of the runs were unearned as Hawaii errors led to Nevada runs in the third and sixth innings.
Graham (3-4) battled back from Saturday's disappointment to shut Hawaii out over the final 1 1/3 innings to get the win.
“;He had a really tough day (on Saturday), but he's been really steady for us and came in today and pitched very well,”; Powers said. “;We put him in with the game on the line and he got out of that inning.”;
Graham replaced Jesse Rasner with men on first and second and two outs in the 11th and got Garcia to ground out to the pitcher.
“;It's kind of sore to lose this game, but we still know that we're playing decently well as a team right now,”; sophomore Kolten Wong said. “;It could have gone either way. We thought we had it at the end, but that's just how baseball is. It's an up-and-down sport.”;
WAC STANDINGS
| Conference | Overall | |||||
| W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Tot. | |
| New Mexico State | 12 | 2 | 1 | .857 | — | 34-12-1 |
| Fresno State | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 4 | 26-19 |
| Sacramento State | 5 | 6 | 0 | .454 | 5 1/2 | 16-23-1 |
| Nevada | 4 | 6 | 1 | .400 | 6 | 24-17-1 |
| Hawaii | 6 | 9 | 0 | .429 | 6 1/2 | 23-21 |
| Louisiana Tech | 6 | 9 | 0 | .429 | 6 1/2 | 21-21 |
| San Jose State | 4 | 7 | 0 | .363 | 6 1/2 | 16-25 |
Yesterday
Nevada at Hawaii, 1 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
Sacramento State at San Jose State
Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State
GAME 2
HAWAII 1, NEVADA 0
| Nevada | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Rodland ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wong 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Moss cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kitamura 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kort 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Van Doornum rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Melino dh | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Freitas dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Barnett rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Garcia ss | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mahoney 2b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Bennett cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Yrigoyen 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Montplaisir lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sing Chow lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Macdonald 1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Turay c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Fujii c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mitchell ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Escobar c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 24 | 0 | 4 | 0 | Totals | 20 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Nevada | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 010 | 000 | x | — | 1 | 3 | 0 |
DP—Nevada 1. LOB—Nevada 5. Hawaii 3. 2B—Kort. HBP—Yrigoyen. SB—Garcia, Macdonald. CS—Mahoney.
| Nevada | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Cole L (3-1) | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Klein | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sisto W (4-4) | 5 1/3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Walters | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Little | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
HBP—by Sisto (Yrigoyen).
Umpires—Larry Randall (Plate); Tim Vessey (First); Jim Garman(Third).
T—1:52. A—1,102
