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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 10, 2009

'Bows clinch WAC berth


Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Sean Montplaisir

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In one clean sweep, Hawai'i clinched a Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament berth, jumped from sixth to fourth in the standings and broke a school record for home runs.

The Rainbows beat Fresno State, 15-10 and 15-6, yesterday to split the series at Pete Beiden Field in Fresno, Calif., snapping a seven-game losing streak in WAC play.

At 11-12, the Rainbows (29-22) completed their conference season, while the other six teams wrap up theirs next weekend. Fresno State (24-27, 8-12) closes at Sacramento State. One of them will have a worse record than UH no matter the outcome of that series. The top six teams of the seven-team conference advance to the WAC tournament that will be held May 21 to 24 at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Rainbows hit five home runs yesterday, giving them 60 for the season, breaking the old mark of 58 set in 1983. Greg Garcia, Kevin Macdonald and Sean Montplaisir homered in the opener to tie the record at 58. Ryan Morford broke it with a second-inning two-run homer in the nightcap. Christian Johnson added a three-run homer in the fifth.

But it was the pitching that made all the difference for the Rainbows, who had allowed double-digit runs in eight of their last nine games. Nate Klein (2-3) went eight effective innings, allowing seven runs (five earned), striking out six and Lenny Linsky survived a three-run ninth in the opener.

Jared Alexander (3-1) gave up five runs on 4 1/3 innings of the seven-inning second game. Jayson Kramer wrapped it up with 2 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run.

Kramer inherited a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fifth with UH ahead 9-5. He got Gavin Hedstrom to ground into an inning-ending double play. Since Kramer came in with the potential tying run at the plate, he is credited with his first save of the season in his first relief appearance. Kramer lasted only 1 1/3 innings in Thursday's series opener.

"We really had a couple guys step up," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was about our guys throwing their off-speed pitches for strikes and they didn't walk people (five walks in 16 innings). And our offense was outstanding again in both games.

"We still played very shaky defense. We have to go back to work and have a couple of good practice days, defensively."

Hawai'i committed five errors in the two games.

While the pitching finally came through, the offense was relentless in both games against a team that can be explosive, especially at its home field.

Hawai'i never trailed in either game. The Bulldogs closed to 7-6 in the fifth inning of the opener, but the Rainbows added eight runs in their next four innings to seal it.

Montplaisir was 3 for 5 with five RBIs. Morford, Garcia and Macdonald also had three hits as UH amassed 22 hits. Macdonald hit his 14th homer of the season, placing him in sole possession of third on UH's all-time single-season home run list. He is one behind John Matias and two behind Joey Meyer. Matt Roquemore was 4 for 6.

Cody Kendall (2-1) allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings for FSU.

In the second game, Wong went 3 for 5 with three RBIs and Roquemore went 3 for 4. Johnson also had three RBIs from his fifth-inning homer.

Holden Sprague (5-3) gave up nine runs (five earned) in six innings for FSU.