Posted on: Sunday, April 4, 2004

UH pitching shuts down Spartans

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawai'i sparkled defensively to help preserve its fourth shutout of the season in a 3-0 win against San Jose State last night.

A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,772 watched the Rainbows (4-4 WAC, 18-11 overall) regain sole possession of second place in the conference, a half-game ahead of the Spartans (4-5, 15-14-1), but 4ý behind leader Rice (10-1).

Brian Finegan's RBI single ignited a three-run seventh for the only scoring in the pitchers' duel between UH's Stephen Bryant and SJSU's Corey Cabral.

"It was just a great college baseball game," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Both starters were outstanding. It's one of those deals where the later it gets, whoever scores first is going to have a pretty good chance of winning. We played a complete game today. We really played good defensively."

Bryant (4-2) pitched three-hit ball over 7¡ innings, although he matched a season-high with five walks. But double plays in three of the first four innings and a fine defensive play by shortstop Finegan, who threw out a runner at the plate with one out and runners at second and third in the fifth inning.

"It was real quick," Finegan said of the play. "The ball was hit, it was in my glove and I just made the throw."

With one out in the eighth, Bryant walked his fifth batter and Guy McDowell came in. After Ryan Angel lined a single off the tip of second baseman Isaac Omura's glove, McDowell got Anthony Contreras on a grounder to first. Omura then made a diving stop on a hard grounder up the middle by Kevin Frandsen and threw him out.

"That saved a run or two," Trapasso said of Omura's play. "If it was 3-2 going into that last inning, we'd really be nervous."

"I had a good read," Omura said of the play. "Frandsen hit it hard enough, so I'm glad I had a good read."

As for the liner he missed, Omura said: "It had some top-spin on it. I just flat out missed it."

In the ninth, McDowell allowed a lead-off walk and, one out later, gave up two singles to load the bases. Darrell Fisherbaugh came in and struck out pinch hitter Brad Kilby and got pinch hitter Danny Anderson on a grounder for a force at second for his fourth save.

Spartans starter Corey Cabral (4-4) went the distance, allowing three runs on nine hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in eight innings. He also got good fielding to keep the game scoreless. In the sixth, UH had the bases loaded with two outs when first baseman Brandon Fromm made a diving stop toward the line of Andrew Sansaver's grounder and raced to the bag for the third out.

But the Rainbows strung four successive hits in the bottom of the seventh with one out. Creighton Kahoali'i doubled to right-center and held the bag when Omura reached on a line single that went of second baseman David Pierson's glove for an infield single. With the runners moving, Finegan lined a single to left to make it 1-0, as Omura stopped at second. Greg Kish, who had a 12-game hitting streak snapped Friday, doubled in two runs to make it 3-0 before Matt Inouye and Jaziel Mendoza struck out.

"Defense played well tonight," Bryant said. "Offense came through in the seventh. I told them in the dugout, 'You give me three runs or a couple runs, this game will be over.' "

It was Bryant's fourth consecutive start in which he went at least six innings and allowed three runs or fewer. Despite the five walks, he made the pitches when they counted most.

"It was a strange outing," Trapasso said. "He seemed to have good command, but had too many walks. But you look at his performance overall, you can't say enough because Cabral (also) was outstanding."

The well-played game was important for UH.

"It was big for us," Omura said. "Now we have an opportunity to win the series."

NOTES: UH recruit Joe Spiers, of Moreno Valley (Calif.) Canyon Springs, broke the California Interscholastic Federation record for hitting safely in consecutive games at 44 by hitting a home run in a 9-4 win at Riverside Poly Friday. The old mark was held by Torrance's Jason Kendall, the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.