Hawai'i beats San Jose State, 7-6
Advertiser Staff
So what's left for the University of Hawai'i baseball team to shoot for now?
The Rainbows reached their 30-win goal yesterday with a 7-6 win against San Jose State in 11 innings at Municipal Stadium in San Jose, Calif.
Not only that, the Rainbows (30-25) have clinched at least a tie for fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference. At 11-18, Louisiana Tech (10-19), which lost 7-1 to Nevada, needs to win today and UH to lose to tie. The Spartans (24-32) dropped to 9-19 in the WAC.
"It's such a great feeling for these kids because they got this program back on track," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "A couple of our seniors who've been here for four years said that's the most wins they've had."
The last time the Rainbows reached 30 wins was 1999, when they were 37-20. UH seniors Brian Bock and Bryan Lee and Kevin Gilbride were freshmen in the 2000 season.
Moreover, the Rainbows have clinched their first series on the Mainland since taking two of three at Rice in 2001. They will try to sweep a Mainland series for the first time since 1999 at Utah.
Pinch-runner Schafer Magana scored on a two-out fielding error by shortstop Anthony Contreras on a grounder by Brent Cook to break a 5-all game in the 11th. After an infield single by Jaziel Mendoza, Arthur Guillen's RBI single made it 7-5 against Jose Amaya (4-6).
Clary Carlsen (4-3) notched his second win in relief in as many days. In 4á innings, the only run he allowed was a solo home run to Kevin Frandsen in the bottom of the 11th to pull SJSU to within a run. But Carlsen retired Jordan Bergstrom, who homered Friday, on a grounder to short to end the game.
The Rainbows chased SJSU ace Matt Durkin after three-plus innings. The runs he allowed came on a two-run double by Bock in the second inning. He walked and hit the first two batters he faced in the fourth and was lifted for Kevin Shull.
The Spartans got a run in the fourth on Aaron Bates' RBI single and took the lead in the fifth on Contreras' sacrifice fly and Bergstrom's RBI single.
But UH tied the game at 3 in the sixth. Matt Inouye reached on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Frandsen, took third on Bock's single to right and scored on Josh Green's sacrifice fly to left.
The Spartans got two in the seventh when UH starter Chris George walked the first two batters of the inning. He was replaced by Rich Olsen who got an out before giving up an RBI single to Bergstrom. Justin Cayetano came in and gave up an RBI single to Markum King to make it 5-3.
But the Rainbows tied it in the eighth. Rocky Russo led off with a walk and took third on Inouye's double. Russo scored on Bock's ground out to second that moved Inouye to third. Inouye scored on Green's sacrifice fly to right.
