Hawai'i knocks off Wichita St.

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

If the double play is said to be a pitcher's best friend, then the three-run homer must be his sweetheart.

University of Hawai'i pitcher Chris George delivers against Wichita State's Brandon Green. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,720 watched the Rainbows (7-1) extend their win streak to six, while handing the Shockers (7-1), ranked 27th by Collegiate Baseball, their first loss after WSU had swept a seven-game series from UH-Hilo.

"Montgomery's home run was huge because the momentum was pretty much on their side regardless of the fact in the seventh and the eighth we were able to stop them from tying the game," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "That was a big blow to give us the opportunity take a breath so we can just go out there and throw strikes in the ninth inning."

The blast down the left field line over the foul pole fence cushioned UH's lead for closer Clary Carlsen, who picked up his third save. He pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for starter Chris George (3-0), who gave way to Carlsen with one out and runners at first and second in the top of the seventh inning after the Shockers scored twice to pull within 4-3.

"It was such a relief," Carlsen said of Montgomery's second homer of the season. "It took a load off. We've had clutch hitting all year."

George spaced out seven hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings on a night he labored with some of his pitches, but came through with some of them in timely fashion.

"I didn't think George had tremendous stuff, but he made pitches at the right time to get out of jams and that's the mark of a good pitcher when you can keep your team in it when you don't have your best stuff," Trapasso said.

The game started as a pitching duel between George and WSU starter Mathew Jakubov (1-1) before the Rainbows scored one in the bottom of the third.

Jakubov hit Montgomery to start the inning. Montgomery advanced to second on Isaac Omura's sacrifice and took third on Brian Finegan's infield chop single to third that extended his hitting streak to eight games. Montgomery then scored on a safety squeeze by Brent Cook, who entered the game hitting .208, to give UH a 1-0 lead.

The Rainbows cushioned their lead with a three-run fourth. Rocky Russo led off with a double to left-center and scored on Andrew Sansaver's ground triple to the right field corner. After Nick Ponomarenko's foul pop out to first, Brian Bock lined a two-run homer down the left-field line over the original wall to make it 4-0 before Jakubov retired the next two batters.

"It was runner on third with one out, so I'm just looking for a fly ball to the outfield. Basically, that's all I'm trying to do," Bock said of his second home run of the season.

But the Shockers got a run in the fifth on a two-out, line single to right by Brandon Green that scored Nick McCoola, who led off the inning with a single and advanced on consecutive ground outs to the shortstop.

George survived a scare in the sixth when Logan Sorensen led off with a walk, stole second, and one out later, was doubled off second on Phil Napolitan's lineout to right fielder Josh Green.

But the Shockers got two in the seventh. Mark Johnson led off by reaching first on shortstop Finegan's throwing error before George walked McCoola. George struck out Shawn Smarsh, but threw a wild pitch to Nick Blasi to advance the runners into scoring position. The runners advanced on Blasi's infield single to put runners at the corners. Green then followed with a single to left to score McCoola to make it 4-3, thus ending George's night, and setting the table for Carlsen.

Carlsen retired the ninth in order.

"He's awesome," Bock said of Carlsen. "He's a great guy to have."

For the Rainbows, it was their fourth consecutive tight game to keep their win streak alive.

"It's a big win for us to keep things going against a quality team like Wichita State, which came here with a lot of good history and they're near the top 25. It's good for us to win the opener and hopefully we can win the series," Montgomery said.

The series continues at 6:35 tonight. The probable starting pitchers are Justin Cayetano (1-0) for UH against Steve Uhlmansiek (1-0).

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