Rainbows out of WAC chase
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i was eliminated from the Western Athletic Conference title chase, but not without a fight in falling to nationally ranked Rice, 14-11, yesterday at Reckling Park in Houston.
The Rainbows (26-27 overall, 13-14 WAC) dropped to five games behind the first-place Owls (38-17, 18-9), who are ranked 12th by Baseball America. UH has three games left, all this weekend at Louisiana Tech. Hawai'i is tied for third with San Jose State, which beat Nevada, 7-6, yesterday.
Hawai'i came back from deficits of 5-1 (after four innings) and 10-8 (after six), only to watch the Owls break a 10-all game in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run by Josh Rodriguez off Colby Summer (2-6), who gave up two runs in one inning. The Owls scored three runs in the eighth against Dean Turner on a two-run triple by Greg Buchanan and sacrifice fly by Rodriguez to lead 14-10.
The Rainbows didn't go down quietly in the ninth. Schafer Magana led off with a walk, took third on Adam Roberts' double and scored when Matt Inouye grounded out to second before Adam Hale struck out two of the next three batters for his first save.
"We fought our tails off," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We knew we were going to have our backs against the wall with what we had left for pitching after yesterday. It was disappointing that we struggled on the mound, but we battled. It was a great game to watch. I couldn't be prouder of the guys."
Cole St. Clair (2-0) pitched á of an inning, the fewest among the eight pitchers in the game. Yet, he was the only one not to allow a run.
Inouye led UH's 11-hit attack by batting 3 for 5 with five RBIs. The Owls' top three hitters in the lineup — Tyler Henley, Buchanan and Rodriguez — each had three hits and three RBIs.
Ricky Bauer started for UH, but lasted only two-plus innings, allowing four runs. Guy McDowell settled the game for two innings, or long enough to see UH chase Rice starter Joe Savery, who gave up seven runs in 4á innings. An RBI single by Isaac Omura, sandwiched by sacrifice flies by Greg Kish and Esteban Lopez, helped UH close to 5-4 before Inouye's three-run double put UH ahead, 7-5.
The Rainbows then saw an 8-6 lead disappear when Rice scored four in the sixth on three consecutive run-producing doubles by Danny Lehmann (two-run double), Savery and Lance Pendleton to take a 10-8 lead. But UH tied it in the seventh on Inouye's RBI double and Erik Ammon's RBI single.
Neither Summer nor Turner could shut down the Owls at the end. The Rainbows' bullpen had been depleted from Saturday's 12-inning game and closer Darrell Fisherbaugh, who left after 1¡ innings Saturday with pain in his right (throwing) shoulder, was unavailable. Trapasso said Fisherbaugh is still day-to-day.
There was a bizarre incident in UH's six-run fifth inning. Home plate umpire John DeLuca went over to UH's dugout to warn the bench about questioning his pitch calls, Trapasso said. As DeLuca was walking back, a spectator apparently heckled the umpire.
"He says, 'You're outta here,'" Trapasso said. "I said, 'Who's outta here, John?' He said, 'The fan. Either you pick somebody or you're going to go (get ejected).' "
Trapasso, who was ejected Saturday, chose pitcher Justin Costi because he was unlikely to be used having started Saturday's game.
"It had nothing to do with the outcome of the game," Trapasso said. "But that was really unprofessional."
Meanwhile, in the WAC batting race, Rice's Savery (2 for 4) lifted his average to .390, while UH's Omura (1 for 5) dropped to .379.
The Rainbows will play at Louisiana Tech (17-37, 9-18) in a three-game series starting Friday. They need to sweep to assure a third consecutive winning season.
Fresno State (16-11) beat Louisiana Tech, 10-8, yesterday to remain two games behind Rice, which closes out at home against San Jose State this weekend. Fresno State, the only other team left in the title hunt, travels to Nevada for its final three WAC games.
The best UH can finish is a second-place tie in the WAC. The only way the Rainbows can do that is by sweeping Louisiana Tech and Nevada sweeping Fresno State.
Louisiana Tech took two of three from UH at Les Murakami Stadium on March 18 to 20.
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