By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai‘i, which nearly killed itself with errors, scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the ninth to rally past Nevada, 10-9, last night in a Western Athletic Conference baseball game.
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| Hawai'i left fielder Chad Boudon fouls back a pitch in the third inning. He scored the winning run as the Rainbows scored three in the bottom of the ninth inning to get their fourth straight victory.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The run capped a three-run inning for the Rainbows (7-4, 2-0 WAC), winners of four straight, after they trailed by as many as five runs.
A Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,101 watched the Rainbows tie a team record by committing four errors in the fifth inning that accounted for two unearned runs. Then they watched the Rainbows score four runs in the eighth to pull to within 8-7, only to see the Wolf Pack (2-9, 1-4) tack on another run in the top of the ninth before the UH rally.
"We never quit," said UH left fielder Chad Boudon, who scored the winning run on catcher Christian Popoff’s throwing error to second on a double steal. "We just keep coming. What were we down? Five? Our team’s fun to watch, fun to play for."
Down 9-7 to start the bottom of the ninth, Patrick Scalabrini and Gregg Omori hit consecutive singles off James Holcomb, who was lifted for George Moran (0-1). But Danny Kimura’s failed sacrifice had Scalabrini forced out at third. On the play, Kimura pulled up lame and was lifted for pinch runner Jeff Coleman.
With one out, Boudon walked to load the bases. Jacob Flick hit a chopper off second baseman Mike Gillies’ glove for a two-run single to tie the game at 9. With runners at first and second, Moran was replaced by left-hander John Teepe to face the left-handed hitting Kevin Gilbride. Having used all available pinch hitters earlier, UH acting coach Carl Furutani had no choice but to let Gilbride bat. (Furutani said he asked Gilbride if he wanted a pitcher to hit for him, but the DH declined.)
With the odds against Gilbride, the Rainbows did the next best thing: Turn the runners loose.
During the pitching change, UH first base coach Tom Gushiken conferred with the runners and suggested a double steal. Both runners took off on a 1-0 pitch to Gilbride. Popoff threw wide to second, easily allowing Boudon to score the winning run.
"Great idea on that," Furutani said of Gushiken’s call. "If they throw out the front runner, we still have the guy in scoring position. You have to be able to take the chances. That’s what we always said, ‘You can’t be afraid to take chances.’ "
The Rainbows infield defense collapsed in Nevada’s two-run fifth. All four players in UH’s infield committed an error. On one of the errors, third baseman Scalabrini took a hard shot off his right wrist, then threw wild to first. After some unconvincing test throws, he was moved to first base, and first baseman Danny Kimura moved to third, where he later dropped an infield pop for an error. Shortstop Cortland Wilson and second baseman Omori also made errors in the inning.
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