Louisiana Tech knocks off Rainbows, 6-5

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i banged out 14 hits, but few of them were timely in a 6-5 loss to Louisiana Tech yesterday in Western Athletic Conference baseball at J.C. Love Field in Ruston, La.

Cortland Wilson belted two-run home runs in the second inning. Advertiser library photo • April 8, 2001

"It was not getting hits when we really needed them," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was very disappointing."

The win evened the series at 1 and snapped a five-game losing streak for the Bulldogs (16-21, 3-11 WAC). The rubber game is at 1 p.m. (HST) today.

Chris Cowles (1-4) pitched two scoreless innings of relief of starter Adam Kirkendall, who allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Sean Yamashita (2-4) lasted three-plus innings, allowing six runs — five earned — on four hits, a walk and three hit batsmen.

"From the outset, he just didn't have it today," Trapasso said. "He had no breaking ball. He was just out of whack."

The teams exchanged two-run home runs in the second inning. Cortland Wilson hit his second homer of the season after Tim Montgomery led off the inning with a single. But Dan Preaus returned the favor for the Bulldogs when he smacked his second homer of the year after Bart Dugdale was hit by Yamashita with one out.

Hawai'i's Brent Cook led off with a line single to left, was balked to second and scored on Gregg Omori's line single to left. After Scooter Martines flied out to center, Montgomery doubled to right with Omori stopping at third. After Wilson drew a walk, Kirkendall struck out Chad Boudon and Brian Bock.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Wade Robinson doubled to right, Michael Hall was hit by a Yamashita pitch and Kyle Humphreys walked to load the bases. Nick Cauley singled to right to score Robinson and reload the bases. But Dugdale lined out to second and Preaus flied out to center to end the Bulldogs' threat.

Louisiana Tech broke the deadlock with a three-run fourth inning. Cullen Simmons led off with a double to right and Antonio Sabatini was hit by a pitch, the third by Yamashita. Brandon Haygood, who hit a grand slam Saturday, bunted down the third-base line. Against the speedy Haygood, third baseman Cook had to hurry his throw to second baseman Lane Nogawa covering first. But the throw was a little wide, allowing Simmons to score, Sabatini to take third and Haygood to advance to second on an error charged to Cook.

"It was a tough play," Trapasso said.

The play also spelled the end for Yamashita, who gave way to Aaron Pribble. Wade Robinson followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3. After Hall walked, Humphreys struck out. Cauley then got an infield single to shortstop to score Haygood and make it 6-3.

Pribble would shut down the Bulldogs the rest of the way. He pitched five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

The Rainbows pulled to within one in the fifth, scoring two runs on wild pitches. With one out, Martines singled and took second on a wild pitch before Montgomery walked. After a balk moved both runners, Wilson walked to load the bases and ended the day for Kirkendall. But Cowles threw a wild pitch to score Martines before striking out Boudon for the second out. He uncorked another wild pitch to score Montgomery before getting Bock to fly out to center to end the inning, as UH stranded a runner at third.

After Matt Lacy pitched two-third scoreless innings, Derek Brewster pitched the last two innings to gain his fifth save. With one out in the ninth, he allowed back-to-back singles to Omori and Martines, but stranded them by getting the next two batters to end the game.

Yamashita pitched to 3 batters in the 4th.

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WP— Pribble, Kirkendall. BK—Kirkendall 2. PB—Dugdale.
T—2:34. A—321 (Tickets issued).

• Oregon State routs Hilo: Oregon State pounded Hawai'i-Hilo pitching in a 21-3 victory yesterday at Corvallis, Ore.

The Beavers leading 7-3 after five innings, scored 14 runs in the sixth. The Beavers finished with 16 hits.

In a game suspended from Saturday, the Beavers won, 11-9.

Oregon State is 22-12. Hilo is 9-33-1.