Posted on: Sunday, February 15, 2004
Hawai'i rallies in 9th inning to beat Florida International
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By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
On Valentine's Day, the University of Hawai'i baseball team showed a lot of heart.
Andrew Sansaver's sacrifice foul fly to left with one out capped a two-run bottom of the ninth and led the Rainbows over Florida International, 5-4, last night for their second consecutive victory and first winning streak of the season. The Golden Panthers (1-6) have dropped four straight.
The Rainbows (3-5) showed love to the 1,087 at Les Murakami Stadium by overcoming three unearned runs and a 4-3 deficit entering the bottom of the ninth.
"We knew we were going to win the game because we worked too hard this week to just let this one go in the ninth," said Matt Inouye, whose RBI double tied the score at 4 before Sansaver won it. "We knew we had to win today."
The Golden Panthers snapped a 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by P. J. Lehman that caromed off the glove of shortstop Brian Finegan. It was the only run allowed by Rich Olsen (1-0) in his three innings of relief of Stephen Bryant, who made his starting debut last night.
But the Rainbows had the top of the order up in the bottom of the ninth. Robbie Wilder beat out an infield grounder for a single and took second when shortstop Luis Rivera's rushed throw got by first base. Finegan grounded out to third, as Wilder held second.
Inouye drilled a 1-1 curve down the left-field line to score Wilder with the tying run against Derek DeCarlo (0-2). After an intentional walk to Josh Green, Creighton Kahoali'i drew a walk to load the bases with one out.
Sansaver, 0 for 3 to that point, ran a 10-pitch count against DeCarlo, slicing the last pitch to shallow left in foul territory. Left fielder Fernando Alvarez, on the dead run, made a sliding catch but crashed into the fence where he remained on the ground, allowing Inouye to score the winning run.
Alvarez remained on the ground for a while, but later left the field under his own power. Had the ball been hit deeper, Alvarez might have let it fall for a foul strike. Had he not have to dive, he might have had a play at the plate.
"I was just thinking, 'Win the at-bat,' " Sansaver said. "There's only a few times in the whole season you have a situation like that and I think everybody dreams of it. All that was going through my head was, 'Win the at-bat.' "
Sansaver, who ran a 2-2 count, fouled off three pitches in a row before drawing ball three and fouling off another pitch before hitting the foul fly. He said DeCarlo was throwing him a lot of off-speed pitches, so he tried wait on the pitch instead of getting out ahead, thus fouling off so many pitches.
The Rainbows took a 1-0 lead in the first on back-to-back doubles by Finegan and Inouye, who finished 3 for 4 with three RBIs.
The Golden Panthers got three unearned runs in the fourth off Bryant because of two errors by third baseman Kahoali'i, who also made a nice back-handed stop in the ninth on a grounder that might have been a hit had he not stopped the ball.
The Rainbows scored two in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score at 3 on a lead-off home run by Nate Thurber off FIU starting pitcher Andrew Edwards, and an RBI single by Inouye off relief pitcher Danny Hernandez. Hernandez pitched 4Ñ scoreless innings (the run that scored off the hit he allowed was charged to Edwards).
Meanwhile, Hernandez and UH reliever Olsen kept battling until the Golden Panthers broke the tie in the ninth. But DeCarlo could not hold the lead, allowing two runs in his one inning of relief.
"It was an outstanding ending to an outstanding game," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Two teams were really, really battling. It was kind of a war of attrition there where they got the out, but we were able to tag up and score."
It was the kind of win the Rainbows needed, one that tested their will.
"I think it speaks a lot about how our team plays," said Sansaver, one of the team's captains. "I think inside of us all, we have that fire to play like that. It doesn't show that if we lose, 4-3. People would've been down on us. We know how we can play. We play like this everyday, we'll be a good team."
The Rainbows will try for the sweep at 1:05 p.m. today. Clary Carlsen will make his second start of the season for UH. FIU's probable starter is Denny Hernandez.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser. com or 525-8042.
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