'Bows sweep twin bill
Advertiser Staff
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Brandon Haislet had a series worth of offense in two games, driving in 10 runs to help Hawai'i complete its first Western Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep of the season, stunning New Mexico State, 17-10 and 15-14, yesterday at Presley Askew Field in Las Cruces, N.M.
"He had some kind of day and obviously we needed it," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "It's funny. Thirty-two runs on the day and basically we needed every one of them."
The UH senior center fielder went 9 for 10, including a two-run home run, was hit by pitches twice and scored six times. He flied out the only time he did not reach base.
The sweep earned the Rainbows (26-27 overall, 18-14 WAC) a split of the four-game series against the Aggies (26-29, 13-15). It also was UH's final WAC series. It closes the regular season against Utah Valley State, an independent, before heading back to Ruston, La., for the WAC tournament.
With the sweep, the Rainbows showed their resilience. Trapasso called yesterday "the biggest day of the year."
"The look in his eye was different," Trapasso said of Kramer. "He knew the situation when he came in having sat through what had to be seven hours of baseball. Then to come into a situation where he knew if he could do a job, it can become the biggest day of the year for us because of him."
"They never quit," Trapasso said. "When they got down by six, I just knew they were going to come back. I knew that game was not over and told them as much. The other guys were taking the field, smiling and laughing, thinking that the game was over. Our guys came back. It was a pretty amazing day."
"He went over the fence and grabbed it out of the tree," Trapasso said. "This game just had everything."
UH 17, NMSU 10
Haislet went 5 for 5 with seven RBI as the Rainbows scored a season-high with a 21-hit attack.
Matt Roquemore and Jon Hee each had four hits. Landon Hernandez had three.
Matt Daly went three-plus innings for UH, allowing four runs, three hits and five walks. But he couldn't go the required minimum of five to get credit for the win. Cameron Wheeler gave up four in the next two innings, but Josh Schneider (4-2) was the most effective, giving up two on five hits and a walk in four innings.
NMSU starter Dillon Smith (2-5) labored from the start, lasting just 1 1/3 innings, giving up six runs, five hits and four walks.
The Aggies pulled to 11-8 in the fifth on Franky Busani's two-run home run, but the Rainbows never let up scoring with three in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.
UH 15, NMSU 14
The game had five lead changes with the last coming on Hernandez's lead-off home run off Erik Nyquist (1-2) in the top of the eighth inning.
The Rainbows started Josh Slaats, who gave up four runs in four innings. Alex Capaul followed and gave up seven (five earned) in two-thirds of an inning. Cory Kahn gave up two in 1 1/3 and Sam Spangler (1-3) was in the right place at the right time, giving up a run in 1 1/3, but was the beneficiary of Hernandez's homer and Kramer's clutch pitching.
Macdonald had four RBI. His three-run home run in the sixth highlighted UH's six-run sixth that tied the game at 12.
"It was a 100 percent offensive day for our team," Trapasso said. "Our offense picked up our pitchers and we won both those games because we said no lead was ever enough and knew we had to keep scoring the whole game. Obviously, we learned our lesson from Thursday night (when UH squandered an early 5-0 lead).
"They just solidified just what I've been saying for the last few weeks, that I'm as proud of these kids as any group I've been around."
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