Fresno State's late rally gives Hawai'i baseball 'tough loss'
Advertiser Staff
The house of horrors that is Beiden Field continues to haunt the Hawai'i baseball team.
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 26, 2002
Fresno State rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Rainbows, 5-4, yesterday to take 2-of-3 in the Western Athletic Conference series in Fresno, Calif.
UH starter Ricky Bauer allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
The Rainbows (1-2 WAC, 12-5 overall) finished the road trip 2-2. They have a rematch with Hawai'i Pacific at 6:35 p.m. tomorrow at Les Murakami Stadium and an exhibition against Matsusaka of Japan on Wednesday. They resume WAC play with nationally ranked Rice (3-0, 15-1) starting Friday.
The Bulldogs (2-1, 6-12), off to a slow start in Mike Batesole's first season as coach, spoiled a strong outing by UH starter Ricky Bauer. They trailed 4-1 before scoring two runs in the eighth off Bauer and two in the ninth off closer Clary Carlsen (0-1). FSU has beaten UH 5-of-6 at home over two seasons. The last time UH took a series at FSU was in 2000.
"I told our guys let's not turn one tough loss, into three or four. It's just one tough loss and that's baseball," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "But we're not going to make excuses (for the game) because we just didn't get the job done."
Ironically, Bauer had been the question mark among UH's three starting pitchers. He had lasted three and 1 2/3 innings in his previous two starts. Yet, his seven-plus innings was longer than the outings against FSU by Chris George (2 1/3) and Justin Cayetano (4 1/3). Bauer allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
"That was the bright spot of the game," Trapasso. "He really threw well, found himself today. That's what we need from him if we're going to stay a good club."
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 24, 2002
After a one-out, fourth-inning double, Bauer retired the next 11 in a row. But in the eighth, Scott Beshears led off with an infield single and took third on Ryan Haag's double to right. Carlsen was summoned to restore order but Chris Patrick's sacrifice fly to center advanced both runners as FSU pulled to 4-2. After Tory Davis fouled out, Casey McGehee grounded a single to left to make it 4-3. Pinch-hitter Kyle Atrat's single moved McGehee to third. Cody Smith pinch-ran for Atrat and stole second, but Carlsen struck out Kent Sakamoto to preserve the lead.
"It's just one tough loss and that's baseball," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.
In the ninth, Brandon Marcelli led off with an infield single, advanced to second on Ryan Rothford's sacrifice and moved to third when Beshears grounded out to shortstop. But Haag singled to center to tie the game at 4, and took second on Patrick's infield single.
Carlsen was lifted for Nick Ponomarenko to face Davis, who reached safely on shortstop Brian Finegan's fielding error. With the bases loaded, McGehee singled to left-center to end the game.
The Rainbows took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly to center by Jaziel Mendoza and RBI single by Isaac Omura. But the Bulldogs got one back in the third on an RBI single by Patrick.
Brian Bock slugged his fourth home run of the season to start the fourth to give UH a 3-1 lead. The Rainbows added another in the seventh. Tim Montgomery led off with a double and made it to third on Omura's sacrifice. Finegan then reached first on a swinging third strike that was a wild pitch, which allowed Montgomery to score to make it 4-1 against FSU starter Josh Glynn, who went 6 1/3 innings.
Bryan Wolfenbarger (1-2) allowed one hit in 2 2/3scoreless innings for FSU.
"We went on the road to a hostile environment, played against a team that's going to be, when it's all said and done, in the top half of our league," Trapasso said. "I'm proud of our guys. We battled from the first inning to last and we just got beat today. (The Bulldogs) just did a great job, tip your hat, but we just have to pay it back when we have a chance to play them again. We have to understand we're a good club. But as we said all along, we still have work to do."
Either Keahi Rawlins or Ponomarenko will start for UH against HPU tomorrow, Trapasso said. The Rainbows beat the Sea Warriors, 9-3, on Feb. 26.
