Catricala's 3-run walkoff homer lifts baseball 'Bows past Mississippi State
Advertiser Staff
Vinnie Catricala's two out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth lifted Hawai'i over No. 26 Mississippi State, 7-4, tonight at Les Murakami Stadium.
With two out, Lee Swindle walked Greg Garcia and Kolten Wong. Catricala then drilled a 2-1 pitch on the top of the left-field fence to win it for the Rainbows.
Sam Spangler (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief for UH (4-6).
Swindle (0-1) gave up a three runs in two innings for the Bulldogs (8-2).
The Rainbows jumped on Routt for four in the bottom of the second. With two out, Landon Hernandez and Shane Hoey each drew four-pitch walks. Ryan Morford went the opposite field with a line single to right on a 2-1 pitch to drive in Hernandez and move Hoey to third, giving UH a 1-0 lead. Greg Garcia grounded a single up the middle to score Hoey. Center fielder Grant Hogue's throw to third went into the third base dugout, allowing Morford to score and Garcia to take third. Routt then balked home Garcia to make it 4-0. Routt's next pitch was inside on Kolten Wong, drawing a warning to both benches by home plate umpire Gus Rodriguez. Wong then grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Bulldogs got one back in the top of the third. Ryan Powers led off with a double to left and Justin Bussey walked. Both advanced on Mark Goforth's sacrifice. Cody Freeman reached first on a fielder's choice grounder to short that scored Powers to make it 4-1, but Bussey was gunned down going to third.
The Bulldogs cut their deficit in half in the fourth. Connor Powers led off with single to left, took second on a passed ball, advanced to third when Sneed grounded out to short and scored on Ryan Duffy's slap single to left to pull MSU to 4-2. Hogue reached first when he grounded to short for a force at second before Klein struck out Ryan Powers to end the inning.
The Bulldogs tied it the sixth. Luke Adkins led off with a single. Connor Powers flied out to center and Adkins took second when Sneed grounded out to short. But Duffy tied it with a two-run home run to right-center.
The Rainbows threatened in the seventh. With two out, Garcia walked and took third on Wong's ground single to right against Busby. Catricala walked on four pitches to load the bases. Busby was pulled for Lee Swindle to face Jeffrey Van Doornum, who grounded out to third to end the inning.
