Last weekend, Pacific rallied from three runs down in the bottom of the ninth to beat Hawaii in the series finale.
The closing game of this week’s series against Long Beach State wasn’t as dramatic, but it left Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso equally dismayed.
"I’m about as disappointed with this game as any all year, even that Pacific game," Trapasso said over the phone Sunday afternoon. "The game again was about our lack of being able to generate anything offensively."
Hawaii left the tying run on third in each of the final two innings to drop a 3-2 decision to the Dirtbags on Sunday in the series finale at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif.
Jeff McNeil went 3-for-4 with two runs and two stolen bases, and Zack Rivera singled and scored after stealing second base as the Dirtbags (24-25, 11-10) won despite just seven hits.
None of them went for extra bases as Matt Cooper and Jon Flinn combined to give UH’s offense every chance to win.
Instead, the Rainbows (12-33, 7-14) left runners on first and third in the eighth and stranded pinch runner Alan Baldwin on third base in the ninth after a leadoff single.
"This was a game that was there for the taking," Trapasso said. "It was a good outing for Coop and once again, he deserves a better fate because we weren’t able to get anything going offensively."
Long Beach State put the leadoff man on base six times but only generated three runs off Cooper, who went six innings and walked two with four strikeouts.
McNeil led off the bottom of the first with a single and stole second off Trevor Podratz, who allowed three stolen bases. All three runners who swiped a base off Podratz scored.
Rivera drew a leadoff walk in the second and scored on a sacrifice fly after stealing second and moving to third when Podratz’s throw sailed into center field.
McNeil scored the eventual winning run in the sixth on the exact same play. He scored on a sacrifice fly after stealing second and moving to third on a second Podratz throwing error.
Marc Flores extended his hitting streak to eight games with a leadoff double in the second and scored on an RBI single by Kalei Hanawahine, who was the only Rainbow to finish with two hits.
Hanawahine scored on a throwing error to give UH a 2-1 lead. The Rainbows had a lead in all three games in the series.
Cooper (2-7) scattered six hits over six innings in the loss and Flinn worked two shutout innings of relief.
David Hill (4-2) allowed two runs over six innings in the win and Jon Maciel got Austin Wobrock to ground to third with Baldwin on third to end the game and earn his seventh save.
Hawaii finished 3-4 on the road trip and is a season-worst 21 games below .500.
The Rainbows host UC Davis for three games this weekend before ending the season at UC Riverside next week. Hawaii trails the Highlanders by a game for seventh place and is two games ahead of the Aggies, who are tied with Pacific for last in conference.
