Air Force beats Hawai'i, 11-4
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Tony Shockley hit for the cycle in highlighting a 16-hit attack as the Air Force Academy beat the University of Hawai'i, 11-4, last night in the third day of the Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Rainbows (15-14) and Falcons (10-16) will play again in a semifinal at 6:35 tonight. Hawai'i is 1-2 in the tournament and Air Force is 2-1. Western Illinois (0-3) will play Lewis-Clark State (3-0) in the other semifinal at 2:30.
Air Force batter Zach McAngus, a 2002 Kamehameha Schools graduate, watches as Hawai'i catcher Drew Jackson pursues an errant pitch in the fourth inning at Les Murakami Stadium.
After grounding out to third in his first at-bat in the second inning, Shockley ignited an eight-run fourth inning with a two-run home run, then tripled in the same inning, before hitting an RBI double in a two-run sixth. He completed the cycle with a single on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth inning.
When Nelson Prouty singled in the ninth, that gave every Falcon at least one hit.
Freshman right-hander Paul Vignola (5-2), who entered the game with a 6.98 earned run average, pitched his first complete game of the season. He allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks, and struck out a career-high 10 batters.
Chris George (4-4) had his second shortest stint of the season, lasting 3 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs (one unearned) on nine hits. George's shortest outing was 2 1/3 innings at Fresno State.
Andrew Sansaver batted 3-for-4 and Brent Cook went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Rainbows.
The Falcons got to George in the fourth, when they sent 12 batters to the plate. Daniel Petro led off with a line double to left and scored on Shockley's two-run home run to right. Bowie Frost lined a double to left and after Derck Kasel grounded out to shortstop, Frost scored on Prouty's line single to left-center to make it 3-0.
Adam Howes then lined a double to left to score Prouty. After a wild pitch sent Howes to third, he scored when Zach McAngus reached first on shortstop Brian Finegan's throwing error. McAngus stole second and scored on Mike Rose's single to right to give Air Force a 6-0 lead. Mike Peck then replaced George.
Josh Phifer, the ninth batter of the inning, ripped Peck's first offering to center for a two-run home run. After Petro struck out, Shockley tripled to right-center. Frost popped out to the catcher to end the inning.
Hawai'i chipped away at its deficit in the bottom of the fourth. Sansaver singled to center and took third on Cook's double to left. Rocky Russo's flare RBI single to right-center put runners at the corners and set up Josh Green's sacrifice fly to right that made it 8-2. Vignola then got Tyler Wightman on a fly to center and Tim Montgomery to strike out to end the inning.
Air Force continued its assault in the fifth on Prouty's solo home run to right-center.
Peck was chased in the sixth. After Phifer struck out, Petro singled and advanced to second and third on consecutive wild pitches before Shockley doubled to left to make it 10-2. Peck was replaced by Reid Horton.
Frost hit an infield pop that went off Sansaver's glove for an error as Shockley held second. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Kasel walked to load the bases for Prouty's sacrifice fly to center that made it 11-2.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, UH got back on the board. Finegan walked and stopped at second on Sansaver's line single to left. Cook tripled to the left-field corner to make it 11-4 before Russo flied out to left to end the inning.
Horton had the his best outing of the season, pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk with one strikeout.
The combined turnstile count for both games yesterday was 727.
• • •
YESTERDAY'S FIRST GAME
• LEWIS-CLARK STATE 12, WESTERN ILLINOIS 1: Paul Gallegos, Cole Hilt and Wayne Stone had two RBIs each for Lewis-Clark State in a game delayed 1 hour, 50 minutes by rain, but shortened after seven innings because of the tournament's 10-run differential rule.
Collin Perschon (1-0) gave up a run on four hits in five innings for Lewis-Clark State. Trevor Benson (0-1) allowed two runs on three hits and two walks in 2á innings for Western Illinois.
Lewis-Clark State took a 9-1 lead into the top of the seventh, when it scored three. The game ended after William Simmons pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh.
