Hawai'i turns back LaTech to break losing streaks, 4-1
Advertiser Staff
Chris George put an end to the University of Hawai'i baseball team's negative streaks.
The senior right-hander halted a personal five-game losing streak by beating Louisiana Tech, 4-1, yesterday at J.C. Love Field in Ruston, La., to help UH avert a sweep by the Bulldogs and stop a 12-game Western Athletic Conference skid.
The Rainbows return home at .500 — 19-19 overall and 2-13 in the WAC — while the Bulldogs dropped to 12-22-1 and 5-10.
George (5-5) hurled his second complete-game of the season — his first was Feb. 14 in a 3-2 win against Sacramento State — and won for the first time since beating UH-Hilo, 9-2, on March 1. He scattered four hits, losing the shutout on a solo home run by Wade Robinson in the seventh. He walked two while tying a career-high with 12 strikeouts.
"It's probably the best game he's thrown for us in (his) two years," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.
Despite the double-digit strikeouts, George used a relatively low 107 pitches.
"That shows how efficient he was getting ahead in the count," Trapasso said. "He didn't go deep in a lot of counts. A lot of 0-2s, a lot of 1-2s because he was able to throw the fastball and changeup to get ahead and control that slider and the hammer (curve) to get those strikeouts."
His offense backed him early. A two-out, two-run home run by freshman Rocky Russo in the first inning off Bulldogs starter Casey Adams (0-2) gave George an early 2-0 lead.
The Rainbows chased Adams after 3 1/3 innings when he walked Matt Inouye and Tim Montgomery consecutively, and gave up a bloop single to Josh Green to load the bases. Brian Bock followed with a sacrifice fly to left off reliever Tyson Toal to make it 3-0 in the fourth inning.
The Rainbows added insurance in the sixth against Mitch Tucker, the third of five Bulldogs pitchers. Montgomery singled and took second on Green's sacrifice. Bock doubled to right-center, but Montgomery, waiting to see if the ball would be caught, could only advance to third. He eventually scored on Schafer Magana's sacrifice fly that made it 4-0.
Trapasso has not decided on Tuesday's starting pitcher against UH-Hilo. It's likely a committee of pitchers will be used, he said.
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