San Jose State uses big inning to beat Hawai'i
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff
It was a game of halves and have nots.
San Jose State owned the first half of the game and not the second, but it was enough to hold off Hawai'i, 11-7, last night in Western Athletic Conference baseball.
The Spartans (18-9, 4-4 WAC) took advantage of a three-run second and seven-run fifth to take a 11-1 lead after five. The Rainbows (8-17, 1-4) outscored the Spartans, 6-0, the rest of the way. This happened before a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,734, most of whom were enthusiastic youth leaguers who kept cheering throughout the game.
"Defense let us down," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We didn't play fearless in those innings. The first five innings, we didn't have that fearlessness. The add-on runs is what cost us. Give a team runs that they earn, but don't give'em runs after that inning because you're feeling the adversity and not shutting the door. The mark of a good team is that they don't give up add-on runs. Then the last four innings, we played well. We took the momentum over the last four innings, but by then, we were down too much."
The Rainbows committed four errors, two in the fifth when the Spartans sent 12 batters to the plate, spoiling William Quaglieri's season starting debut in the process. Quaglieri (2-3) gave up seven runs (six earned) and 12 hits in 4¡ innings. He had earned a start after pitching successfully out of the bullpen his previous seven outings.
Spartans starter Jahseam George (5-0) was the beneficiary of his team's 18-hit attack. He pitched a strong five complete innings before the Rainbows sent 11 batters to the plate in their five-run sixth.
Not all of UH's defensive woes were because of errors. In SJSU's three-run second, left fielder Derek Honma said he misplayed a fly ball on the warning track that landed for an RBI double by Adam Shorsher (3-for-5). That would have been the second out and Bryan Baker's subsequent fly out to left would have ended the inning with the Spartans coming up empty.
"I just lost it," Honma said. "I should've made the play."
Aside from the first half of the game, the Rainbows did have some positive signs.
Ricky Bauer pitched the final 4á innings, allowing four runs (three earned), all in the seven-run inning. He blanked the Spartans the rest of the way.
"We changed his breaking ball this week," Trapasso said. "It was much tighter, not as big, a lot shorter than it had been in the past. He went after guys and was pretty impressive."
Gregg Omori was 2-for-4, including a two-run double with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Even his two outs were off hard hit balls. He lined out to right and hit a sharp grounder to first that first baseman Jordan Bergstrom, a late-inning defensive replacement, snagged then tossed to the pitcher covering first.
"We take a stride away, try to go no stride, close him up a little bit and he responded with a couple of the best at-bats he's had all year by far," Trapasso said. "The line drive to right was the best swing he's had in weeks."
Right-handed hitting Tim Montgomery came in as a pinch-hitter in the fifth and hit a sacrifice fly to right and singled to right in his next at-bat.
"He's going to the right side, trying to hit the ball on the ground," Trapasso said. "That was encouraging.
"Maybe slowly, but surely, the guys are starting to see the results when you stay on pitches and try to hit it hard on the ground and use the whole field."
If anything, the second half of last night's game might have provided some confidence for the Rainbows for today's series finale.
"We'll come back hard next game," Honma said. "The ending part was a positive."
Freshman Jason Piepmeier will start for UH, while San Jose State was undecided as of last night. Coach Sam Piraro said Mike Malott was supposed to start, but he pitched three innings of relief last night. Game time is 1:05 p.m.
