FRESNO, Calif. — On a clear Central California day, it would've been nice to play two.

But top-seeded Fresno State had other plans, denying second-seeded Hawai'i with an 8-4 win yesterday for the Western Athletic Conference tournament title at Beiden Field.

The No. 21-ranked Bulldogs (43-16) won their 15th consecutive game to secure an automatic NCAA tournament regional berth. It will be FSU's first regional appearance since 2001, and the first for fourth-year coach Mike Batesole.

Meanwhile, the Rainbows (43-15) needed to win twice yesterday to win the tournament crown after fighting their way out of the losers' bracket after a second-round loss to Nevada on Friday.

But the Rainbows, with a pseudo Ratings Percentage Index (according to Boyd's World Web site) of 33 prior to yesterday's game, are confident they will be extended an at-large berth during today's selections, which will be aired on ESPN starting at 6:30 a.m., Hawai'i time.

"(Saturday) was the key," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of the sweep of Louisiana Tech and Nevada. "We'll just see where we're going tomorrow."

Fresno State outfielder Ozzie Lewis, named the most valuable player of the tournament, was happy to win, but is waiting for the bigger prize today.

"Everybody's wondering what regional we're going to be at," he said.

The loss was the end of an exhausting weekend for the Rainbows, forced to play five games to FSU's four after falling into the losers' bracket.

"It was good to get to the championship game," said UH catcher Esteban Lopez. "We just couldn't hold them off."

It was a frustrating situation for UH, which had depleted most of its bullpen in the Nevada loss and was forced to use its third and fourth starters, Ian Harrington and Mark Rodrigues, in Saturday's elimination games.

Playing twice on Saturday and to come back at mid-day the next to face the Bulldogs might have been too much.

In FSU's four-run sixth, when it sent nine batters to the plate, Trapasso got ejected for arguing a play at the plate with Kent Sakamoto at bat with runners at second and third.

Sakamoto hit a high bounder to second baseman Jon Hee with the infield drawn in. Hee fired to Lopez to try and get Lewis at the plate. Lopez thought he had blocked Lewis out, but umpire Darrel Mason — who ejected Lopez in the Nevada loss for arguing pitch calls — called Lewis safe. Lopez jumped in disbelief and Trapasso came out to defend his catcher. The run made it 5-2 in favor of FSU.

"Este thought he had 'em," Trapasso said. "So I went out there to argue for my catcher. It was a big play because it cushioned their lead with no outs. I had to try to get something going, get our guys going because we were going dormant for a few innings."

Trapasso said there was some carry-over from Friday's Nevada game, when Trapasso argued vehemently with Mason when Lopez was ejected.

But Trapasso has let go of the situation.

"After the game, I saw (Mason) and told him it was one of those plays that could've gone either way," he said.

With most of the staff running on empty, the Rainbows could not hold a 2-1 lead after the first inning. Starter Tyler Davis, making only his second start because he is primarily a reliever, got tagged for three runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth, when he was picked up by usual closer Darrell Fisherbaugh, who also had trouble, giving up three more runs in the inning.

Davis (2-2) gave up four runs, eight hits and a walk with five strikeouts in four-plus innings. Fisherbaugh, who pitched two scoreless innings the night before to finish Rodrigues' start, gave up four runs, six hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings.

"For whatever reason, he did not have a comfortable look about him," Trapasso said of Fisherbaugh, the team's saves leader with nine. "He wasn't throwing with any aggressiveness and he struggled."

Trapasso used Davis and Fisherbaugh first among the relievers because they were relatively the best-rested.

"The idea was if we could get those two guys to split this game and win, then you're throwing the (Dean) Turners, (Jayson) Kramers and (Jeff) Soskins after that," Trapasso said. "But we were thin coming in from having to go to the pen so early Friday. That was Tyler's third outing in four days. That was asking a lot. He threw pretty good for throwing three times in four days."

"I had no command and pretty much only had my slider," Fisherbaugh said.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the first on designated hitter Steve Susdorf's two-out home run to right off Davis. But the Rainbows struck back quickly against FSU starter Brandon Burke (8-5) by scoring two in the bottom of the first. With Robbie Wilder at second after reaching on a hit batsman and Derek DuPree at first after a single, Justin Frash doubled to right. Wilder scored easily, but DuPree was gunned downed trying to score; Frash took third on the throw home. After Luis Avila struck out, Frash scored on Matt Inouye's single to left.

The Bulldogs tied it in the fifth on Sakamoto's RBI single and took the lead, 4-2, on Brian Lapin's two-run single. They added four in the seventh to make it 8-2.

Hawai'i scored twice in the seventh when Lopez walked and took third on Eli Christensen's double to right-center. Lopez scored when Jorge Franco grounded out to first, moving Christensen to third, where he scored when Hee grounded out to second.

NOTES

Third baseman Justin Frash and starting pitcher Steven Wright were the only Rainbows picked for the all-tournament team voted on by the media.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.