Never-say-die Rainbows defeat Bruins in 11th, 7-6

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

It wasn't pretty. But this wasn't Olympic figure skating, at least not the off-ice stuff.

Hawai'i starting pitcher Aaron Pribble spaced seven hits in seven innings, allowing one run while striking out five batters and walking two. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Cortland Wilson hustled to first base to avoid an inning-ending double play and allow Brent Cook to score the winning run as the Rainbows (4-5) won their second consecutive game against the Bruins (7-5). Wilson's two errors had led to two unearned runs in the eighth inning and one in the 11th.

"For him to atone for the error that he made was huge," Trapasso said of his starting shortstop, who also had four hits. "But what was even bigger was the way he atoned for it because he did it by hustling, by showing the type of baseball we have to play, just (showing) that kind of passion and intensity.

"The minute he hit it (a grounder to shortstop), I thought we were going back out for another inning," Trapasso added. "I actually looked down at my feet, then I looked up. It wasn't bang-bang; he was clearly safe. It was a lights-out way to atone for a mistake because he did it by hustling and that's awesome."

The Bruins took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 11th when Wilson's two-out fielding error put runners at first and second. Josh Arhart's single to left scored Matt Thayer, but Ben Francisco was thrown out trying to advance to third to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 11th, Arthur Guillen led off with a walk. After Wade Clark (0-1) struck out Danny Mocny, Cook was nicked by a pitch. Gregg Omori's line single to left loaded the bases for Scooter Martines, whose line single to center tied the score as the runners advanced.

Mike Castillo was summoned from the bullpen to face Wilson. On a 2-0 count, he hit a foul fly to shallow right field near the line, where right fielder Adam Berry intentionally let the ball drop foul, UCLA coach Gary Adams confirmed. Adams said Cook would have easily scored had Berry made the catch. But the ball wasn't hit that deep — about 230 feet from the plate — so Trapasso said he told Cook that the decision to tag up had the catch been made was his. "He probably would've gone," Trapasso said.

The strategy looked good because two pitches later, Wilson hit a 3-1 offering straight to shortstop Preston Griffin, whose throw to second baseman Ryan Rasmussen got the force. But Wilson beat Rasmussen's relay as Cook scored the winning run.

"We never gave up," Cook said. "I feel like everyone left it on the field today. We made our fair share of mistakes, but we kept on battling. The pitchers kept us in it and we got big hits there at the end."

William Quaglieri (1-1), who pitched seven strong innings of relief in last week's 13-inning loss to Sacramento State, at least had something to show for his three innings this time. He allowed three runs, two earned.

UH starter Aaron Pribble scattered seven hits and walked two, while allowing one run in seven innings. Chris George gave up two unearned runs in the eighth inning.

UCLA scored first in the third inning, when Rasmussen singled, stole second and took third on catcher Brian Bock's wild throw on the play. Rasmussen scored on Griffin's single to right center.

The Rainbows tied it in he fourth when Wilson led off with a single, took second on a balk one out later, and scored when Lane Nogawa battled for 12 pitches before singling to center.

The Bruins would not score again until the eighth. Francisco reached first on Wilson's fielding error. Francisco stole second on the first pitch to Arhart, stole third on the next pitch, and scored on Bock's wild throw on the play. Two outs later, Berry singled to center. On a hit-and-run, Casey Grzecka lined a single to left, Berry came all the way around and was initially tagged out at home on a relay from left fielder Martines to shortstop Wilson to Bock. But Bock could not hang on to the ball, allowing UCLA to take a 3-1 lead.

Hawai'i tied the score in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Cook and Omori singled to chase left-handed starter Mike Kunes. Kunes allowed three runs and 10 hits in 7 1/2 innings. Right-hander Doug Silva got Martines to fly to center, but Wilson and pinch-hitter Kevin Gilbride followed with consecutive RBI singles to make it 3-3.

UCLA regained the lead in the top of the ninth. With two outs against Quaglieri, Matt Thayer and Francisco singled. After a balk moved the runners along, Arhart's parachute shot between right fielder Gilbride and second baseman Nogawa fell in for a two-run single.

Again, the Rainbows responded, taking advantage of UCLA's only error. With one out in the ninth, Guillen reached when Silva dropped a throw while covering first on a grounder to first baseman Casey Janssen. After Guillen stole second, Mocny walked. Cook singled to center to score Guillen and put runners at the corners. It was Cook's fourth hit of the game and ninth in two games.

Omori's sacrifice fly to right tied the score at 5 and sent the game into extra innings..

"You can say a lot about making the mistakes that put six runs on the board for those guys, but they still got 14 hits," Trapasso said. "Every time we made a mistake, they capitalized on it. That's the mark of a good club.

"But we just battled. I don't think you could underestimate how tough our kids were today. That could go a long, long way for our program."

The series concludes today at 1:05 p.m. Ricky Bauer (0-2) will pitch for UH against UCLA's Kyle Wilson (0-0) in a battle of right-handed freshmen. Wilson will make his first start; he has two saves in 5 1/2 innings.