HONOLULU – The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (32-26) saw their run in the WAC Tournament end as they fell to the Fresno State Bulldogs (29-28) 10-3 in the NAPA Auto Parts Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament Saturday. Jared Alexander (3-3) took the loss, pitching 6.2 innings with four runs while Gene Escat (1-1) got the win for the Bulldogs. Tom Harlan also came up with the save for Fresno State.

 

Vinnie Catricala led the way for UH, going 2-for-3 with one RBI and two walks. Kolten Wong ended up 1-for-4 with a run while Kevin Fujii ended up 1-for-3 with a run.

 

Tom Mendonca put his mark on the game early, hitting a solo home run to center in the top of the first to give the Bulldogs a quick 1-0 edge.

 

Hawai`i manufactured a run in the bottom of the second as Wong got on base on an error, moved over to third on a single by Sean Montplaisir and scored on a ground out by Jeffrey Van Doornum, tying the game at 1-1.

 

The Bulldogs added a run in the top of the fourth to take back the one-run edge before Catricala hit a RBI-single to right, tying the game again at 2-2.

 

But Danny Muno came up big for Fresno State in the top of the seventh, hitting a two-run homer run, giving them back the lead at 4-2.

 

The Dawgs then ran away with it in the top of the eighth, scoring four runs to make it an 8-2 ballgame.

 

Fresno State continued to tack on to their lead in the top of the ninth, scoring two more runs to get it to 10-2.

 

Hawai`i mounted a small comeback in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't enough as UH fell, 10-3

 

The loss eliminates the Rainbows from the WAC Tournament.

 

-UH-