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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 22, 2009

Rainbows beat Nevada, face Fresno State tomorrow


Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

UH center fielder Kolten Wong makes a leaping backhanded catch of a deep fly ball by Nevada's Brett Hart in the fourth inning at the WAC Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium today. The Rainbows won, 5-4, in 10 innings.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Vinnie Catricala’s sacrifice fly to right in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted Hawaii over Nevada, 5-4, today, keeping the Rainbows alive in the NAPA Auto Parts Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.

With one out, Brock Stassi walked Kevin Fujii, Ryan Morford and Greg Garcia in succession to load the bases. Catricala’s sacrifice fly to right scored Fujii to end the game.
Hawai‘i (32-25) will meet defending league and College World Series champion Fresno State at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Because of FSU’s win against San Jose State yesterday, the winner of the UH-FSU game advances to Sunday’s title game.
The Wolf Pack (25-31) became the first team ousted from the double-elimination tournament.
Nate Klein (3-4) allowed a run in four innings of relief for starter Matt Sisto. Stassi (6-5) allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings.
The Wolf Pack wasted little time getting on the board, scoring in the first inning. Matt Bowman led off with a single to left, took second on Westley Moss’ sacrifice and scored on Shaun Kort’s double to right-center to take a 1-0 lead.
But the Rainbows responded quickly with two in the bottom of the first. Catricala reached on a two-out single to left and Kevin Macdonald walked. Kolten Wong’s flare double to left-center scored both to put UH ahead, 2-1.
Bowman led off the third with a single to left, stole second before Moss struck out and Kort flie out to left. But Tyson Jaquez’s single up the middle scored Bowman to tie the game at 2.
Catricala’s two-out, solo home run to center gave UH a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning. It was his 13th of the season and 20th of his career.
Bowman led off the fifth with a ground-rule double to center and scored on Moss’ ground single to left to tie the game at 3. Moss stole second after escaping a rundown. Kort walked and both runners advanced on Jaquez’s sacrifice. But Sisto struck out the next two batters to strand the runners in scoring position.
Hawa‘i took the lead in the seventh. Wong led off with a walk, took second when Sean Montplaisir grounded out to third and scored when Christian Johnson grounded a single to left to give UH a 4-3 lead. Johnson took second on the throw home. Matt Roquemore flied out to left, holding Johnson at second. With a 1-0 count on Fujii, Garcia was pulled for Tyler Graham. Johnson went to third on a wild pitch, but Fujii grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Wolf Pack tied it at 4 with two outs in the top of the ninth. Bowman walked with one out and an out later, scored the tying run when Kort doubled to left-center.

FRESNO STATE 6, SAN JOSE STATE 3

Dusty Robinson and Tom Mendonca hit back-to-back homer runs in the bottom of the sixth for tying and go-ahead runs to keep the Bulldogs alive in the tournament.
Fresno State (29-28) trailed 3-2 when Robinson and Mendonca started the inning with the homers off SJSU starter David Berner (7-2). Mendonca increased his team-leading home run total to 25, while Robinson is at 13.
Derek Benny (4-3) pitched a complete game for the Bulldogs, allowing three runs (two earned), nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Berner (7-2) was charged with four runs, 10 hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 5· innings for the Spartans (40-19).