Rainbows beaten by homer in ninth, 4-3

Advertiser Staff

Adam Shorsher homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning yesterday to give San Jose State a 4-3 win over Hawai'i and a sweep of the three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series at Municipal Stadium in San Jose, Calif.

It was the 12th consecutive win at home for the Spartans (39-13, 17-7 WAC) against the Rainbows (15-32, 4-17) in four seasons.

Shorsher hit an RBI single to tie the score at 3 in the seventh before belting his game-winning homer against UH starter Ricky Bauer. He leads the WAC with 13 homers.

San Jose State freshman Matt Durkin (9-1) struck out 13 in his fourth complete game. He allowed six hits — four of them consecutively in UH's three-run second inning — and walked none in handing the Rainbows their fifth loss in a row.

After Lane Nogawa's two-run double in the second, Durkin retired 21 of the last 24 batters. He allowed just one hit after the second, a lead-off single in the sixth by Scooter Martines, who was erased on a double play. The other times a UH batter reached safely were on fielding errors of grounders hit by Brian Bock in the fifth and seventh innings.

"He was throwing 92, 93 (mph) with command," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of Durkin. "He and (Rice freshman Philip) Humber are two of the freshmen in our league getting the most notoriety. He was outstanding."

Durkin, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander, was somewhat of a coup for the Spartans. He opted for school instead of turning pro after the Arizona Diamondbacks made him a 10th-round selection last year.

Meanwhile, Bauer (1-6) once again pitched well enough to win. He went 8¡ innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He got Travis Becktel to ground out to shortstop to start the ninth before watching Shorsher whack a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence.

"Same story, different day," Trapasso said of Bauer, who worked his second complete game of the season. "It was his sixth quality start in a row. We just didn't get much (scoring) opportunities after the second inning."

Durkin had struck out three of the first six batters he faced to start the game when the Rainbows responded. With two outs in the second, Danny Mocny and Julian Russell hit singles. Then Bock and Nogawa hit back-to-back doubles for the three runs before Brent Cook flied to right to end the rally.

The Spartans scored twice in the bottom of the second. Hector Zamora led off with a walk and Bryan Baker singled to center. Kevin Frandsen then singled to right for one run. Becktel then grounded into a double play to score Baker and make it 3-2.

The Spartans threatened in the sixth when they loaded the bases, but Bauer got Baker to fly to left to end the inning.

Bauer hit Frandsen to start the seventh. After Becktel's sacrifice moved Frandsen to second, Shorsher singled to left. Left fielder Chad Boudon's throw home was cut off by third baseman Mocny, who got Shorsher trying for second for the second out. Trapasso said there was no chance of getting Frandsen at home.

"It was a good play," he said.

The Rainbows return for their final homestand of the season in a three-game series with Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs (19-30, 5-19) are ahead of the Rainbows by conference winning percentage, but a half-game behind UH because of the difference in games played. The series runs Thursday through Saturday.