Box Score

HONOLULU - In front of the second sellout crowd of the year (4,581), the Univesity of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (31-23, 9-13 WAC) fell to the Fresno State Bulldogs (32-25, 17-5) 7-5 in 10 innings at the Les Murakami Stadium Saturday. Jeff Soskin (0-1) pitched well, allowing two runs on four hits in 4.0 innings, as he left the game with the score tied, but took the loss. Jason Breckley (3-1) got the win for the Bulldogs.

Justin Frash led the way, going 2-for-5 with two RBI, a run, a double and a triple. Jonathan Hee was 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and one RBI while Derek DuPree went 2-for-4 with a double.

The 'Bows found themselves in a hole quickly, giving up single runs in the first and second innings before allowing a two-run home run by Ozzie Lewis in the third, falling behind 4-0. UH came back in the bottom of the third, scoring on a RBI-double by Frash and a sacrifice fly by Brandon Haislet, getting it to 4-2.

The Bulldogs got their lead back up to three runs in the sixth on a RBI-double by Loren Storey. And that was the way it stayed until the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Evan Zimny led off with a walk, only to get out as part of a double play one batter later. But Hawai`i put on their rally hats and went to work with two outs. Elijah Christensen walked, then scored on a double by Hee. Hee then scored on a pinch-hit single by Kevin Macdonald, getting the Rainbows within a run at 5-4. Frash then had the big hit of the inning, whacking a triple down the right line, scoring pinch-runner Matt Roquemore to tie game and send it into extra innings.

But Fresno State came up with their own heriocs in the extra frame. Soskin got the first two Bulldogs out to start the inning, before allowing back-to-back singles. After Soskin was lifted from the game, Fresno State got a walk to load the bases before Steve Susdorf hit a two-run single up the middle, giving the Bulldogs the 7-5 advantage.

Breckley then took control in the bottom of the 10th, striking out the side to preserve the win. The two teams will continue their series tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium. Fresno State has already clinched the Western Athletic Conference regular season title and will be the top seed in next week's WAC Tournament.

-UH-