Omura lifts UH baseball to first road victory, 8-7
Advertiser Staff
Isaac Omura's one-out, RBI single in the top of the ninth inning lifted Hawai'i over Nevada, 8-7, yesterday in Western Athletic Conference baseball in Reno, Nev.
The Rainbows (16-20 overall, 4-8 WAC) won on the road for the first time this season and won at Peccole Park for only the second time in five seasons (2-13). But those weren't the only rare events. Hawai'i scored in five different innings for only the fourth time this season and the first since March 19 in a 7-6 win against Florida State.
The Wolf Pack scored three runs in the eighth inning to tie the game at 7. But the Rainbows went ahead in the top of the ninth against Wesley Dorsett (1-2). Joe Spiers was hit by a pitch to start the inning, took second on Derek Dupree's sacrifice and scored on Omura's single to center. Omura led the Rainbows with three of their 14 hits.
"The truth is today belonged to the offense," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We were able to score, particularly after we gave up three to tie it in the eighth. We thought, 'Well, here we go again.' But we said, 'Why not?' (change the team's fate)."
By averting the sweep, the Rainbows dropped the Wolf Pack (17-12, 6-3) a half-game behind in the win-loss columns but in a percentage tie with San Jose State (18-12-1, 8-4), which beat Fresno State, 6-5, in 10 innings yesterday. Also, Rice beat Louisiana Tech, 11-4. That pulled UH into a tie for fifth with Tech (12-22, 4-8).
Darrell Fisherbaugh (3-1) pitched two scoreless innings of relief for UH, including a perfect ninth. He minimized damage by keeping the game tied after Steven Wright got into trouble in the bottom of the eighth, when the Wolf Pack came back from a 7-4 deficit to tie the game.
After back-to-back singles by Matthew Bowman and Eric Newman to start the eighth, Wright balked, allowing the runners to move to second and third. Carlos Madrid's infield single to short scored Bowman, but Spiers' throwing error to first allowed Newman to score and sent Madrid to second.
Fisherbaugh came in and walked Brett Hayes. After the runners advanced on Robert Marcial's sacrifice, Jacob Butler was intentionally walked. Ben Mummy's sacrifice fly to center tied the game and advanced the other runners as well. But Fisherbaugh struck out Shawn Scobee to keep the game tied.
The Rainbows took a 2-0 lead in the third on RBI singles by Dupree and Omura, only to see the Wolf Pack tie the game in the bottom of the inning on Hayes' two-run home run to left.
Nevada took the lead in the fourth against UH starter Justin Costi on Hayes' bases-loaded RBI single. Costi was pulled for Wright, who maintained damage control by getting Marcial to ground into an inning-ending double play to short. Costi gave up three runs on five hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings with two strikeouts.
Hawai'i regained the lead in the fifth against Nevada starter Travis Sutton. Esteban Lopez led off with a double to left-center, took third on Spiers' single to left and scored when Dupree grounded into a double play. But Omura doubled and scored on Nate Thurber's first home run of the season, a blast to right-center to give UH a 5-3 lead.
The Wolf Pack pulled to within one in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and Mummy at first, where he reached on a single, Baker Krukow singled to right, where right fielder Matt Inouye's fielding error put the runners at second and third. Wright then balked, pulling Nevada to 5-4.
But UH scored in the sixth after Adam Roberts doubled with one out, and scored on Lopez's single to center to make it 6-4.
A lead-off double in the eighth by Inouye ended Sutton's day for Matt Renfree. Inouye took third on Schafer Magana's sacrifice and scored on Roberts' second double of the game to make it 7-4, only to see Nevada tie the game with the three-run eighth.
"The way things have been going, I hope we can use this to turn the tide," Trapasso said.
The Rainbows return home to play Hawai'i Pacific on Wednesday before opening a three-game series with Rice on Friday.
