San Jose's Durkin stymies Hawai'i, 8-0

Advertiser Staff

•	TODAY: Hawai'i at San Jose State, noon, KKEA (1420 AM)

Matt Durkin (8-5), a projected first- or second-round pick in next week's draft, fired a three-hitter, walking five and striking out eight for his second complete game of the season for the Spartans (9-19 WAC, 21-31-1 overall). At one stretch, he retired 12 Rainbows in succession.

The Rainbows (13-14, 31-22) have no chance at finishing second because the winner of the Nevada-Fresno State series will clinch second because it will be the only one to reach at least 16 wins. The most UH can win is 15 by taking the next two games from the Spartans. The series continues at noon today at Blethen Field on the SJSU campus. The game will be broadcast live on KKEA (AM 1420).

The Rainbows committed four errors yesterday, three by usually reliable shortstop Brian Finegan. Two errors in the fourth inning led to four unearned runs.

"We were just bad across the board," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We didn't play any kind of defense, we didn't hit and we struggled with our pitching as well."

It appeared the adrenaline that held the team together when injuries sapped personnel had run out on the Rainbows.

"All the adversity has finally caught up to us," Trapasso said. "We played like we had nothing left in the tank. That's a tough deal. It was by far our worst game of the year, in terms of (lacking) energy and lethargy."

Ricky Bauer (8-4) labored from the start when Kevin Frandsen led off the bottom of the first with a triple to left and scored on Ryan Angel's sacrifice fly to right.

A four-run fourth saw the Spartans send 10 batters to the plate to make it 5-0. Errors by Finegan and third baseman Schafer Magana prolonged the inning for RBI singles by Brandon Fromm and Justin Santich-Hughes, and a bases-loaded hit batsman by Angel. Magana's error allowed a run to score.

A passed ball and an RBI double by Anthony Contreras increased the Spartans' lead to 7-0 in the sixth.

Steven Wright replaced Bauer in the seventh. Wright allowed three consecutive two-out singles in the eighth, including an RBI hit by Joshua Lansford, son of former major leaguer Carney Lansford, that made it 8-0.

The Rainbows never had a runner reach third until the ninth, when Durkin labored a bit with a walk and hit batsman. Two strikeouts later, a wild pitch sent runners to second and third. After issuing his fifth walk to load the bases, Durkin struck out Isaac Omura to end the game.

"We just need to bounce back for the next two (games)," Trapasso said.