Fresno State finishes off Hawai'i, 6-1

Fresno State catcher Brad Harper tags UH's Gregg Omori, completing an inning-ending double play in the second. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

The fire alarm sounded at Les Murakami Stadium prior to yesterday's game. But it wasn't enough to wake up Hawai'i's dormant offense.

Zach Minor allowed an unearned run on seven hits and two walks to help Fresno State beat the Rainbows, 6-1, before a youth league-enhanced crowd of 1,536.

"We didn't have those key hits with runners on when we needed to," UH co-captain Scooter Martines said.

For the fourth Western Athletic Conference series this season, the Rainbows (15-29, 4-14 WAC) won the opening game, only to lose the next two. The two WAC series in which that pattern didn't hold true were three-game sweeps by Rice home and away.

Before yesterday's game, a child pulled one of the fire alarms at the stadium, setting off bells all around the facility. They rang steadily for about 25 minutes, ending about 15 minutes before game time. The Bulldogs (25-22, 13-8) heard the call loud and clear.

"It's good to win the last one because we've had a lot of games here where we went home disappointed," said FSU coach Bob Bennett. "It's a great feeling to win over here."

Minor (5-3), a 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior right-hander, pitched the second complete game in as many days for the Bulldogs, who are a game behind second-place San Jose State in the WAC and 7 1/2 back of leader Rice.

The Rainbows threatened in the second inning. Gregg Omori hit a chop single over second, Martines grounded a single to center and Tim Montgomery lined a single off shortstop Chris Patrick's glove to load the bases with no out.

After Minor struck out Danny Mocny, Julian Russell lifted a fly to left that former Mililani High all-state outfielder Brendon Suga caught and fired a little wide of home plate, but close enough for catcher Brad Harper to tag Omori trying to score for an inning-ending double play.

Meanwhile, UH freshman right-hander Ricky Bauer kept the Bulldogs in control. His command was so good that he used 42 pitches in the first five innings. He retired 11 of 12 at one stretch.

But with one out in the sixth, the Bulldogs got consecutive soft line singles from Patrick and Casey McGehee. Ben Fritz then whacked a ground-rule double to right-center to give FSU a 1-0 lead.

The Rainbows brought the infield in to prevent further scoring. But on a 0-1 pitch, Brian Pierce hit a fly into foul territory near the UH bullpen gate along the left-field line. Left fielder Martines made a diving attempt at the ball, crashed into the gate and popped it open. Although the ball dropped out of Martines' glove, third base umpire Kenny Bayne signaled out. With Martines on his back, stunned by the impact, both runners scored for a two-run sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

"I hit my head on the pole," Martines said. "I opened my eyes and (the ball) was right next to my glove, so I picked it up and I saw the umpire call it out, so I just tried to throw it in."

Trapasso said he could not see the play from the dugout and didn't know the ball wasn't caught.

"I saw the ball go in his glove, then I saw him disappear through that gate," Trapasso said. "My first thought was 'was he OK?' Then when I saw our trainer was out there, I went to the umpire. He said he caught it and stayed in (the field of play). It's a tough way to give up a couple of runs. But you can't fault Scooter. It's a great effort."

(Had the umpire ruled Martines was out of the field of play — he was in the gated area — the runner on second would have been allowed to score anyway, Trapasso said.)

Two batters later, Tobey Riday-White smoked a drive to left that Martines hauled in at the warning track with his back to the infield. But a 3-0 hole looked deep for a team struggling at the plate.

"You could feel the collective air go out of this dugout," Trapasso said. "When you can't score and all of a sudden you're down by three, you start to lose that belief that you're going to come back. We always seem to hang right in there, but play good enough to lose."

Meanwhile, Minor rolled along until two out in the seventh. Mocny walked, took second on a passed ball and scored on Russell's parachute single to center.

But UH's bullpen couldn't keep the deficit at two. Matt Le Ducq allowed two runs in the eighth and Jason Piepmeier allowed one in the ninth.

Yesterday was the aloha game for Bennett, who will retire at the end of the season after 34 years.

"Because of my association with (retired UH baseball coach) Les Murakami, I've always felt kind of close (to the UH program)," Bennett said.

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