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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 6:23 p.m., Tuesday, April 7, 2009

No. 23 UH baseball team beats Santa Clara on road

Advertiser Staff

Kevin Macdonald drove in three runs and Alex Capaul pitched six strong innings and No. 23 Hawai'i beat Santa Clara, 8-4, today in a non-conference game at Stephen Schott Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Macdonald had a two-run double in a four-run first and an RBI single in a three-run seventh that was followed by Landon Hernandez's fifth home run of the season.

Capaul (1-1) allowed three runs, seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts for the Rainbows (20-10). Josh Slaats added two scoreless innings and Lenny Linsky allowed a run in the ninth.

Cory Hall (0-4) gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning for the Broncos (10-17), who have dropped 10 in a row.

The Rainbows wasted little time getting to Hall, roughing him up by sending eight batters up in a four-run first in which there were five stolen bases. Greg Garcia led off with a single and stole second before Ryan Morford walked before Vinnie Catricala struck out. After a double steal, Kevin Macdonald doubled to right to score both runners. A balk sent Macdonald to third, where he scored on Kolten Wong's single to center to make it 3-0. Wong stole second and took third on the wild throw to second by the catcher before Landon Hernandez was called out on strikes. Jeffrey Van Doornum's single to left scored Wong, making it 4-0 and chasing Hall in the process for Jason Westerberg. Van Doornum stole second before Sean Montplaisir struck out to end the inning.

The Broncos got one back in the bottom of the first, but not after their coach Mark O'Brien was ejected after arguing a close call at first when Matt Long grounded out to first to lead off. Curtis Wagner then doubled to right-center and took second when Jon Karcich grounded out to second. Geoff Klein doubled to left to score Wagner to make it 4-1.

Hawai'i added to its lead in the third. Wong led off with a double to left and Hernandez was hit by a pitch. Wong went to third when Van Doornum flied out to center, leaving runners at the corners. Wong scored on Montplaisir's sacrifice fly to left to increase UH's lead to 5-1.

Santa Clara got the run back in the third. Long walked, took second when Wagner grounded out to second and scored on Jon Karcich's double to left to pull the Broncos to 5-2.

The Broncos chipped away in the fifth with another run. Juan Parra singled with one out and scored on Long's triple to center to make it 5-3. Capaul struck out Wagner, but Long was out when a a 2-2 pitch went to the backstop, but bounced back to catcher Hernandez, who was able to stage the rundown to end the inning.

Hawai'i cushioned its lead in a three-run seventh. Morford led off with a walk against Paul Twining, but Catricala popped out to second. Morford scored on Macdonald's single to center to make it 6-3. Twining was replaced by Steve Kalush, who got Wong called out on strikes. Hernandez drilled his fifth homer of the season to left to make it 8-3.

The Broncos added a run in the ninth off Linsky when Geoff Klein doubled with one out and took second on left fielder Montplaisir's fielding error. Klein scored when Brady Fuerst grounded out to first.