'Bows clinch WAC tourney berth
POSTED: Sunday, May 23, 2010
On the verge of a Western Athletic Conference tournament berth all week, the Hawaii baseball team finally punched its ticket to the dance.
Sam Spangler threw six innings of one-run ball and Collin Bennett hit a two-run double to help the Rainbows defeat San Jose State 4-2 in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader at Municipal Stadium in San Jose, Calif.
The Spartans (21-34, 9-14) battled back to win the second game 3-0 and clinch the final spot in the tournament beginning Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz.
Sacramento State is the odd team out after it lost two games yesterday to Fresno State, which clinched the regular-season title and No. 1 seed.
New Mexico State, which lost nine of its final 10 games, is the second seed and Nevada is the three seed.
Hawaii (28-25, 11-12) is tied with Louisiana Tech, and the two teams will play each other in the first game of the tournament at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Either team could be the fourth or fifth seed depending on the outcome of today's games. Hawaii owns the tiebreaker because it has a better road record. The two teams split a four-game series at Ruston, La., last month.
“;After last weekend, we knew we were going to be in the tournament,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;Our focus has been going out and playing well against San Jose State, but also on getting things lined up and ready for the tournament.”;
Sam Spangler (4-6) won his second straight start, allowing one earned run over six innings in Game 1. He gave up seven hits, but was able to get out of repeated jams by walking only one.
He left after six innings and 86 pitches and felt some pain in his back after the game.
“;I was thinking about sending him out for one more inning, but he kind of tweaked his back a little bit, so we'll have to monitor that,”; Trapasso said. “;He threw good though. He was missing up a little bit but made the pitches when he needed to.”;
Bennett had two doubles among his three hits and Greg Garcia went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to represent the majority of Hawaii's offense.
Jason Martin homered off of reliever Jesse Moore to pull the Spartans within a run in the eighth.
Hawaii tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk by Kolten Wong that scored Bennett, who led off with a double down the left-field line.
Lenny Linsky allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, but struck out pinch hitter Breyon Canez to lock down his 11th save, which is now the third most in a single season in school history.
Sean Martin and Zack Jones combined on a six-hit shutout in the second game. The Rainbows loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but Jones struck out Jeff Van Doornum and got David Freitas to ground into a fielder's choice to end the threat.
“;We just couldn't get anything going,”; Trapasso said.
Matt Sisto (4-5) allowed three runs on six hits in four innings, throwing 56 pitches. Nick Borg hit a two-run double in the second and Corey Valine bunted for a run-scoring single in the third. Sisto came back out in the fourth and retired the side in order to end his day.
HAWAII 4, SAN JOSE STATE 2
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | San Jose St | AB | R | H | BI | |||
| Wong 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Martin cf | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Kitamura 3b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Quiery lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Van Doornum rf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Klauer 2b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Freitas dh | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Valine c | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Garcia ss | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Jones dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Bennett cf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | Stienstra 1b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Macdonald 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hertler ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Koissian lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Johnson ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Fujii c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Canez ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Gale rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Sofranac ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Borg 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Christian 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Totals | 33 | 4 | 8 | 4 | Totals | 33 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Hawaii | 012 | 000 | 001 | — | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| San Jose State | 000 | 001 | 010 | — | 2 | 9 | 0 |
DP—Hawaii 3; SJSU 2. LOB—Hawaii 7; SJSU 5. 2B—Garcia (11); Bennett 2(11); Martin (12). HR—Martin (2). SH—Koissian (3). SB—Van Doornum (6); Garcia (4).
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Spangler (W, 4-6) | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Moore | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Linsky (S, 11) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| San Jose State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Austin (L, 1-8) | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| LeBaron | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
WP—Spangler.
Umpires—Tony Norris (Plate); Steve Fritzoni (First); Kelly Gonzales (Third). T—2:23.
SAN JOSE STATE 3, HAWAII 0
| Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | San Jose St | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Wong 2b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Martin cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Kitamura 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Quiery lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Van Doornum dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Klauer 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Freitas c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Valine c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Garcia ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Sofranac rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bennett cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Jones dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Montplaisir lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stienstra 1b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Macdonald 1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Borg 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Roquemore rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Reiling ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 24 | 0 | 6 | 0 | Totals | 24 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Hawaii | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| San Jose State | 021 | 000 | x | — | 3 | 6 | 0 |
E—Garcia (11). DP—SJSU 1. LOB—Hawaii 4; SJSU 3. 2B—Wong (12); Borg (4). CS—Wong (7).
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Sisto (L, 4-5) | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | |
| Gallagher | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| San Jose State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Martin (W, 2-3) | 5 1/3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Jones (S, 5) | 1 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
WP—Martin.
Umpires—Steve Fritzoni (Plate); Kelly Gonzales (First); Tony Norris (Third). T—1:48. A—502.
WAC STANDINGS
| Conference | Overall | |||||
| W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Tot. | |
| Fresno State | 15 | 8 | 0 | .652 | — | 34-23 |
| New Mexico State | 14 | 9 | 1 | .604 | 1 | 36-21-1 |
| Nevada | 13 | 9 | 1 | .587 | 1 1/2 | 33-20-1 |
| Hawaii | 11 | 12 | 0 | .478 | 4 | 28-25 |
| Louisiana Tech | 11 | 12 | 0 | .478 | 4 | 27-27 |
| San Jose State | 9 | 14 | 0 | .391 | 6 | 21-34 |
| Sacramento State | 7 | 16 | 0 | .304 | 8 | 18-34-1 |
Yesterday
Hawaii 4, San Jose State 2
San Jose State 3, Hawaii 0 (7 innings)
Fresno State 7, Sacramento State 6
Fresno State 10, Sacramento State 1 (7 innings)
Nevada 18, Louisiana Tech 1 (7 innings)
Today
Hawaii at San Jose State, 10 a.m.
Sacramento State at Fresno State
Louisiana Tech at Nevada
