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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 5:04 p.m., Sunday, March 9, 2008

Long Beach State tops UH in baseball, 8-4

Advertiser Staff

No. 10 Long Beach State used a five-run seventh to rally past Hawai'i, 8-4, today to complete a three-game non-conference series sweep at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Dirtbags (9-2) sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning to extend their winning streak to seven. The Rainbows (5-9), who had a 4-0 lead after four, dropped their sixth game in a row.

Sam Spangler (0-2), one of four pitchers used in that seventh, gave up what turned out to be the tying and go-ahead runs without retiring a batter.

David Roberts (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for LBSU. Dustin Rasco pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two, for his first save.

Junior Harrison Kuroda got his first start of his career, lasting a career-high 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, three hits and four walks with four strikeouts for UH.

The Rainbows jumped on LBSU starter Jake Thompson with a two-run first. Jon Hee singled to short and took third on Sean Montplaisir's double to right-center. After Brandon Haislet grounded out to third, the runners held, but scored on Vinnie Catricala's single to right-center to make it 2-0. Catricala took second on the throw home, but was gunned down at the plate on Alex Myers' single to right. Jeff Van Doornum struck out to end the inning.

Hawai'i increased its lead in the third. Hee led off with a walk and two outs later, took second on Catricala's single to left. Both scored on Myers' double to left-center to make it 4-0.

The Dirbags cut their deficit 4-2 in the fifth. With one out, Jason Corder reached on an infield single and Kuroda walked the next two batters to load the bases. Chris Nelson's two-run single made it 4-2 as T.J. Mittelstaedt stopped at second. Kuroda struck out Danny Espinosa, but walked Shane Peterson to load the bases. Kuroda was pulled for Jayson Kramer, who retired Ted Lemasters on a grounder to short to end the inning.

Hawai'i threatened in the fifth. Montplaisir led off with a walk and Haislet flied out to center. Catricala's single to left moved Montplaisir to second. With the left-handed hitting Myers coming up, LBSU pulled the right-handed Jake Thompson for the left-handed Brandon M. Godfrey. Myers fouled out to deep right that allowed both runners to advance. Godfrey was pulled for the right-handed Brett Lorin to face the right-handed hitting Jeff Van Doornum, who struck out looking to end the inning.

The Dirtbags sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run seventh, Nelson led off the inning by getting hit by a Kramer pitch and took second on Espinosa's sacrifice. Kramer was lifted for the left-handed Sam Spangler to face the left-handed hitting Peterson. Nelson advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Peterson's ground single to center to pull LBSU to 4-3. After Lemasters was hit by a pitch, Spangler was pulled for the right-handed Alex Capaul, who walked Taylor Krick to load the bases. John Hill singled to right to score Peterson to tie the game at 4 and reload the bases. Corder's two-run single to center gave LBSU a 6-4 lead and sent Hill to second. Capaul was replaced by Josh Schneider, who struck out Jason Tweedy. Mittelstaedt walked to load the bases to set up Nelson's RBI single that made it 7-4 and reloaded the bases. Epinosa struck out to end the inning.

Long Beach State increased its lead in the eighth. With two outs, the Dirtbags got three successive singles off Schneider. last an RBI hit by Corder to make it 8-4.