‘Bows let one get away

MESA, Ariz. » Winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament is a hard enough task, and now it just got harder.

If the Hawaii baseball team is going to accomplish the feat, it will have to win six games over four days following an 8-2 loss to Fresno State in the tournament’s opening game on Wednesday at Hohokam Stadium.

The fifth-seeded Bulldogs (26-25) took advantage of Hohokam’s large outfield dimensions, finishing with seven extra-base hits, including five doubles.

Aaron Judge went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a triple, and Pat Hutcheson homered for FSU, which is 23-3 in the WAC tournament since 2006.

"I hope everybody is watching Aaron Judge now because we’re not in the WAC next year and that guy is my pick for the first pick in the draft next year," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "I hope I don’t have to play him again."

Hawaii’s 33-year run in the WAC could come to an end as soon as today if it doesn’t beat Louisiana Tech.

After advancing to the championship game each of the past two years, the Rainbows (30-24) are in danger of being the first team knocked out of the double-elimination tournament.

The defining moment of Wednesday’s loss came in the sixth inning, when the Bulldogs scored six times on only four hits.

UH left-hander Jarrett Arakawa gave up a two-out home run to Hutcheson in the fourth. He allowed five of the final six batters he faced to reach base and got lifted in he sixth after a walk to Kenny Wise and a single by Austin Wynns.

David Longville, who hadn’t pitched since serving a four-game suspension for hitting a batter at Sacramento State, gave up a single to Jordan Luplow to load the bases.

Chris Mariscal followed with a double-play ball to second that got past Stephen Ventimilia, resulting in two runs for the Bulldogs.

Jordan Brink followed with an RBI single past a diving Collin Bennett at third, and the Bulldogs kept pouring it on before capping the six-run inning on Judge’s RBI triple.

"We should have made a lot more plays (defensively) to get out of innings," junior Pi‘ikea Kitamura said.

UH was charged with only one error in the inning, but gave up one of its runs on a play in which the Bulldogs were credited with three stolen bases, including a steal of home by Brink.

"If you’re going to win championships, you make those plays," Trapasso said. "You’ve got to be tougher than we were."

Kitamura and Bennett, two of five current Rainbows who played on the 2010 championship team, teamed up to give UH a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Kitamura hit a two-out single off Thomas Harlan and Bennett followed with an RBI triple that bounced off the hitter’s eye in center above the 410-foot sign.

Bennett finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and Kitamura had two of UH’s 11 hits.

"It comes down to not getting the bats going I guess," Bennett said. "We need to put less pressure on our pitchers."

Neither Fresno State nor Hawaii went with its ace.

Fresno State left-hander Tyler Linehan and Hawaii right-hander Matt Sisto didn’t pitch for injury reasons.

Sisto, who is expected to start today’s game, hasn’t pitched in 13 days since aggravating a groin injury against Sacramento State.

"I feel like I’m ready to throw," Sisto said on Wednesday.

UH is 4-0 in postseason games started by Sisto, who is 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA in those games and has gone seven innings and allowed two runs or fewer in each of his past three starts.

Hawaii hadn’t lost its first game in the tournament since 2009, when it was played at Les Murakami Stadium.