SACRAMENTO, Calif. » Mike Trapasso had had enough. The Hawaii baseball coach had just seen his pitcher, David Longville, allow a two-run home run to Derrick Chung to blow open Sunday’s game at Sacramento State. Now, Longville had been ejected by home plate umpire Joe Maiden for hitting Rhys Hoskins with his next pitch.
So Trapasso let Maiden have it. Loudly. Profanely. In a way that would threaten KKEA’s FCC license if the station’s microphones picked up any of it.
For a while, Maiden wouldn’t toss Trapasso, seemingly taking a, "If I have to sit through this, so do you," attitude. Finally, with Trapasso at the mound unleashing another barrage, Maiden sent him packing.
It was about the only fight the Rainbows showed on Sunday, dropping a 10-2 decision to Sacramento State and allowing the Hornets to complete a three-game sweep. The only thing Trapasso really missed was Trevor Paine’s bomb of a home run on Lawrence Chew’s first pitch after the histrionics. Paine sent the ball over the scoreboard in left-center field, a major league shot.
Hawaii (28-21, 8-7 Western Athletic Conference) was dominated on Saturday and Sunday after dropping a tough 7-6 game in 12 innings on Friday. The Hornets (29-23, 11-7) outscored the Rainbows 20-5 in the final two games, collecting 30 hits in the process.
It was truly a lost weekend for Hawaii, which was coming off a three-game sweep of New Mexico State that had vaulted the Rainbows into first place in the WAC. Now, they are leading a life of quiet desperation, tied for third, three games behind Nevada.
"We went from our best pitching weekend last weekend of the year to our worst," Trapasso said. "Not much you can do when they were swinging the bats like they were."
Said designated hitter Trevor Podratz, "I think it was just a collection of things. Our pitching last weekend was phenomenal. The best I’ve personally seen. This weekend, it just wasn’t phenomenal."
Chung did the most damage. He was 3-for-4 on Sunday and 9-for-13 over the weekend, scoring four runs and driving in five, including the game-winner in Friday’s game. He also played catcher for 28 of the 30 innings. Chung picked Kaeo Aliviado off at first in the first inning on Sunday, helping to blunt what could have been a big inning to start the game. This despite a sore shoulder.
After moving to second base late in Sunday’s game, Chung made a terrific play going far to his right to snag Breland Almadova’s grounder up the middle and making a sweet throw to nip Almadova at first.
"It was a good weekend for me," Chung said in a bit of an understatement. "That was my last conference weekend here at Sac State at home. I was just trying to give everything I have and it worked out pretty well."
Justin Higley had a home run and a triple, and Paine had a double earlier to go along with his blast as the Hornets had six extra-base hits. UH starter Scott Squier couldn’t get an out in the third inning and was tagged for three runs. Longville allowed six runs in 32⁄3 innings. Chew and Jesse Moore were left to play Cinderella, mopping up after the step-sisters went to the ball. Podratz had one of the few bright spots for the Rainbows, launching a solo homer in the fourth that cut the score to 3-2.
Hawaii will play UC Davis in a nonconference game today, then return home to face Nevada for three games to end the WAC regular season. If the Rainbows can sweep Nevada, they would tie Sacramento State at the top of the WAC standings. New Mexico State could join the tie if it swept San Jose State. In either scenarios, the Hornets would win the regular-season tiebreaker for the top seed in the WAC tournament.
