By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai‘i used dramatics to snap a school record-tying nine-game losing streak by beating Rice, 4-3, yesterday in Western Athletic Conference baseball.
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| Hawai‘i baseball players celebrated near the home dugout late in yesterday’s win over the third-ranked Owls. The win ended a nine-game Rainbows losing streak and lifted them out of a tie for last-place in the WAC.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Tied at 3, Gregg Omori’s bases loaded, two-out single on a full count in the bottom of the ninth scored Tim Montgomery with the game winner.
"It feels great to get that one win off our back to stop the losing streak," Omori said. "But that’s only one win. We have to keep going, come out next week and practice hard."
There were no dark clouds, literally and figuratively, over the Rainbow Stadium crowd of 850, as Hawai‘i players rushed to the plate to greet Montgomery.
The Rainbows (8-13, 3-9 WAC) exorcised demons — poor pitching and bad fielding — that were prevalent during the skid.
Hawai‘i starter Jeff Coleman pitched seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks. Although he didn’t figure in the decision, it was the first time a UH starter got past the fifth inning in seven games.
The Rainbows made just one error. It was the first time in eight games that they did not commit more than one error.
Coleman’s pitching allowed the Rainbows to take a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning. After escaping a jam by allowing an unearned run in the seventh, Coleman allowed a lead-off single to Austin Davis to start the ninth.
Hawai‘i summoned Wakon Childers from the bullpen, but he walked Eric Arnold.
Hunter Brown grounded to third baseman Patrick Scalabrini for a force at second. But the umpires ruled base-running interference and awarded UH a double play, sending Davis back to second. But A.J. Porfirio doubled to center to score Davis to tie the game at 3.
After Bryan Lee (2-1) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, the Rainbows bounced back.
Phillip Tribe (1-1), pitching in relief of starter Jonathan Gonzalez, walked Montgomery to start the inning, but struck out Cortland Wilson. After Matthew Purtell flied out to right, Lane Nogawa and Danny Kimura drew walks to load the bases for Omori.
Omori fell behind 1-2 in the count, but worked it back to 3-2 before drilling a ground single just inside the third base line.
It capped a successful day for Omori, who sat out the night before. He hit a solo home run in a two-run first inning. In all, he batted 3-for-5.
"Coach (Carl) Furutani thought I was pressing and wanted me to take a rest," Omori said. "Plus, my elbow wasn’t feeling all that great."
The third-ranked Owls (18-4, 8-1) got a run in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Arnold and Hunter Brown, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
The Rainbows added a run in the sixth on Scalabrini’s sacrifice fly.
The Owls pulled to within one in the seventh when they had runners at the corners with two out. Billy Jacobson stole second, but catcher Jacob Flick’s throw there got past the infielders, allowing Matt Fox to score an unearned run.
Coleman, who had one poor outing in which he lasted one-third of an inning at San Jose State, but made it up with a scoreless six-inning relief stint two days later, lowered his earned run average to 3.59. He said he could tell while warming in the bullpen that he was going to have command of his pitches.
"Everything flows," he said. "Your pitches are hitting the corners."
Coleman has been the Game 1 starter all season except for this series. He was pushed back because of the long relief appearance last Sunday at San Jose.
"It helped," he said. "I threw my bullpen for today on Wednesday, and I was still pretty tight. But the two days definitely helped."
Added Furutani: "We had Jeff on the mound, and that made a difference. He gave us the confidence that we needed."
The win not only allowed the Rainbows to avert a sweep, but kept them out of a last-place tie in the conference with UH-Hilo (2-10). The Rainbows are 6 1/2 games behind the WAC-leading Owls.
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