Winthrop sweeps UH, 11-3

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Just as a three-game sweep doesn't make a season, getting swept right after doesn't necessarily mean the momentum has been stopped.

UH right fielder Jose Castaneda was unable to catch up to the ball hit off the wall by Winthrop's Alan Robbins in the third inning. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It's 56 games," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "If you start riding the emotion like a lot of our people around here want to do with every game you win, you're going to go to Omaha (site of the College World Series) and every game you lose, you won't win another one, you're going to go crazy. You gotta keep an even keel."

Last night, the Eagles (17-5) had everything going from solid pitching, timely hitting and nice fielding.

Heath Rollins (3-3), who also doubled as designated hitter, gave up three runs on three hits — two were infield singles by Greg Kish — and four walks with four strikeouts in seven innings. Three other pitchers finished the last two innings without giving up a hit.

Jacob Dempsey caused the most damage when the game was still close with a solo home run in the fourth that tied the game at 2 and a two-run double in the sixth that snapped the tie for good against UH starter Colby Summer.

A three-run double by Tommy Lentz in a five-run sixth, when the Rainbows started the inning with relief pitcher Larry Ellenbrook, helped put the game away.

Summer (1-1) was charged with five runs, four earned, on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts in six innings.

"Today, they were better than us," Trapasso said. "They just dumped us. But you hang your hat on last night's game. That's the one we gave away. That's the one we had opportunity after opportunities to win and didn't get it done."

Tuesday's 15-inning 4-3 loss kept UH's key relievers seated last night. Darrell Fisherbaugh went 4á innings and Guy McDowell went three Tuesday. With Steven Wright scheduled to start tomorrow, UH used Ellenbrook and Dean Turner with the game still close and Winthrop ahead, 5-3. Rich Olsen had a stomach virus and wasn't available, Trapasso said.

"He would've been the first one out tonight had he been healthy," Trapasso said.

After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the third, the Rainbows rallied with two in their half of the inning. Jose Castaneda led off with a double to right-center and Esteban Lopez walked. Both advanced on a sacrifice by Joe Spiers, who reached safely when third baseman Ben Ehrlich's throw pulled first baseman Dempsey's foot off the bag to load the bases. Kish hit a bouncer that Ehrlich apparently lost in the lights that bounced through his legs for an RBI infield single to reload the bases and set up Isaac Omura's sacrifice fly to left.

But the lead was short-lived as Dempsey's home run tied the score at 2 in the fourth.

"Winthrop came out and played us tough, but it's not as if we weren't ready to play," said Kish, one of the Rainbows' co-captains. "We came out with intensity, but it was a tough loss. Last night was a tough loss to take, but tonight they just played better than us."

With the WAC season coming up, there is no dwelling on last night's loss.

"We start 0-0," Kish said. "We start over again and we know that if we play our game, come out, we have a chance to do really well."

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