Rainbows battled, but UCSB had a little more at the end

UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii battled for three hours and two minutes in the rain Thursday, and the Gauchos were one run better, 7-6, than the Rainbows in UH’s first Big West game as a conference member.

The way it ended, Kalei Hanawahine’s hard-hit ball up the middle for a double play, makes it tempting to say UH was snake-bitten once again, didn’t get the breaks. The way things were most of the star-crossed nonconference season.

But that would be wrong and unfair to the visitors. They won because they made the plays and came up with the hits when they had to.

And Hawaii fought to the end again, but lack of execution in a key spot was crucial. It’s hard to pick on Conner George because he was so instrumental in the recent four wins out of the past five games. But he didn’t get a bunt down that if successful would’ve put the tying and winning runs on second and third with one out in the ninth.

I loved the aggressive baseball earlier in the inning, letting Marc Flores swing away on a 2-0 count, no outs runners on first and second, trailing by two. And he responds with an RBI single.

It wasn’t the cleanest game ever, and it wasn’t a happy ending for UH, but it was entertaining at least.

Both teams executed some solid fundamentals, both came through with some clutch hits. This isn’t the hopeless Rainbows team of the early going that would leave runners on if you gave them five outs.

BOTH TEAMS’ pitching was far from dominant. UH coach Mike Trapasso told us the other day that most teams in the Big West have what they call "A Dude," meaning an ace who is a high-round pro draft prospect — someone with filthy stuff who will someday make lots of money playing baseball.

If either the Gauchos or Rainbows have A Dude they weren’t throwing Thursday.

The shortstops, though, almost make up for that themselves. Austin Wobrock for UH and Brandon Trinkwon for UCSB both making big-league level plays.

This had the feel of a Sunday game of depleted pitching staffs, not the first of a series with its normally No. 1 starters trading goose eggs.

There is something going around and Trevor Podratz is the latest to catch it. Hitting is indeed contagious, and Podratz is the latest Rainbow to get the bug. A couple of clutch, two-out, two-run singles for him.

Connor Little’s grit exemplified this game, coming back from a line drive to the knee that knocked him down, but not out. Your proverbial scary moment (especially after all the injuries to the mound staff), but he continued to pitch. Maybe the extra inning he ate will help the Rainbows later in this series.

The Gauchos are not overpowering, but they’re tenacious. This one wasn’t about being snake-bitten and bad breaks. On this night it was about both teams battling hard, and the visitors being just better enough to make the difference.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.