Nevada shuts down UH on five hits, 5-0
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
After four consecutive strong pitching performances by the Hawai'i baseball team, it witnessed a fifth. But this time, it was by the other team.
Sophomore right-hander Mateo Miramontes pitched "the best game of my college career" by firing a five-hitter to lead Nevada over Hawai'i, 5-0, last night in a Western Athletic Conference game before a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,054.
The Wolf Pack (15-16, 3-5 WAC) ended a modest two-game skid, while the Rainbows (13-21, 2-6) had a season-best four-game winning streak snapped. Their previous loss before last night also was a shutout, a 12-0 game to San Jose State in the Easter Tournament.
Miramontes (4-4) was a pitcher of efficiency. He used 105 pitches for his first complete game of the season, walking none and striking out eight. At one stretch, he retired 10 Rainbows in a row. Only once did UH have two base runners in an inning, but that didn't last as he got an inning-ending double play to scrap any Rainbow threat.
"A 105 pitches, that's a rarity for me," Miramontes said.
His earned run average entering the game was 5.23. Like UH pitchers earlier in the year, in games that he struggled, he couldn't keep his pitches down. But not last night.
"Every pitch I threw, it was down," Miramontes said. "That was the key. I just let them roll over, roll over. In the games that got my ERA up, I kept balls up. With metal bats, they can drive it out of the park."
He got 11 outs from 10 grounders and eight fly outs — including two harmless pop-ups.
"That's the best we've seen," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of Miramontes' outing. "We had him up to 94 (mph) on our gun most of the night with great command. Our approach has been the same it's been the last few days. We had good swings. We were aggressive, but we were just beaten tonight.
"It was a good baseball game, really, except for the eighth inning. It could've gone either way."
Indeed.
In spite of a defense that committed three of four errors while he was on the mound, UH starter Sean Yamashita (2-3) kept the Rainbows in the game. He allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings.
He could have caved in the fourth when JaRell McIntyre led off with a double and advanced to third when right fielder Kevin Gilbride dropped a fly ball for a two-base error that sent McIntyre to third.
With runners at second and third and no out, Yamashita struck out Matt Maguire and Carlos Madrid on three pitches each before getting Mike Hass on a foul pop out to third to turn away the Wolf Pack.
"Sean pitched great," Trapasso said. "I'm so proud of him. He kept us in there. Maybe any other night against any other pitcher, we got a chance. We hung in there as long as we could. (Miramontes) was just better tonight."
The Wolf Pack scored in the third inning when Madrid grounded a double to left, took third on Hass' sacrifice and scored on Mike Gillies' ground out to shortstop.
They added an unearned run in the sixth. McIntyre, who was 3-for-5, opened with a line single to left, and advanced to second on Erick Streelman's sacrifice. After Yamashita struck out Maguire for the second time, McIntyre scored on third baseman Brent Cook's throwing error after a grounder by Madrid.
Yamashita left after the seventh, having thrown 119 pitches. William Quaglieri wasn't as effective, giving up three runs, two earned, in the eighth.
After McIntyre led off by reaching on shortstop Julian Russell's throwing error, he took third on a double to left by Streelman, who was replaced with pinch-runner Chris Gimenez.
With runners at second and third and no out, the UH infield played in to cut off the runner at the plate. It appeared the strategy worked, when Maguire hit a grounder to Russell, who bobbled the ball, allowing McIntyre to score, but was still able to get Maguire at first.
Then came a mental error, when Madrid bunted down the third-base line. The ball's first bounce was fair and was hooking foul, but Cook fielded the ball before it landed in foul territory, making it a fair ball, as Madrid reached first on an infield single that allowed Gimenez to take third.
Gimenez would score on Hass' bunt single to third and Madrid scored on Gillies' line single to left center. Quaglieri retired the next two batters and pitched a perfect ninth, but the damage was already done.
The rubber game of the series is at 1:05 p.m. today. Freshman Ricky Bauer will pitch for UH against James Holcomb.
