April 1, 2012
Final Stats
HONOLULU - UC Davis scored twice in the fourth inning and Nick Lynch's two-run homer in the sixth tied the game at 4-4, but Hawai'i captured the 5-4 win with an RBI single in the 11th inning on Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
UC Davis drops to 11-12 overall while Hawai'i improves to 16-12 and takes a 2-1 series lead.
Hawai'i took a 3-0 lead, scoring a run in the first inning, then tacking on two more runs in the third. Stephen Ventimilia led off with a base hit then came around to score on Collin Bennett's two-out single into center field.
Aggie starter Tom Briner struck out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings, but Harry Stanwyck was given the loss after allowing the game-winning run in the 11th inning. He moves to 1-2 on the year while Jesse Moore picked up the win to move to 1-0.
Aggie starting pitcher Tom Briner struck out the side in the second inning, but the Rainbows came back in the third when Ventimilia led things off again with a base hit. Kaeo Aliviado followed that with a base hit off his own, then both runners scored on AJ Bayus' double into left field to give Hawai'i a 3-0 lead.
UC Davis responded in the fourth when David Popkins started the inning with a base hit, then scored from first on Paul Politi's double into right center field. Politi moved to third on a groundout by Lynch, then scored on a Brett Morgan groundout to bring the score to 3-2.
Pi'ikea Kitamura gave Hawai'i a 4-2 lead in the fifth as he singled to lead off, then scored on back-to-back base hits from Bennett and Breland Almadova.
Popkins drew a walk to lead off the sixth, then Lynch's two-run shot into right field tied the game at 4-4.
Chris Levy entered the game for Briner in the eighth and Hawai'i nearly took the lead after Zack Swasey reached on an error then moved to second on Garrett Champion's sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch from Levy put Champion on third before Harry Stanwyck was brought in for UC Davis to end the inning.
UC Davis had a runner in scoring position in the top of the tenth after Popkins and Politi hit back-to-back base hits, but Lynch grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Aggies then turned a double play of their own in the bottom half of the tenth to end a Hawai'i scoring threat and head to the 11th.
Brett Morgan walked to lead off the top of the 11th, moved to second on Scott Kalush's sacrifice bunt, then stoel third, but John Williams struck out and Austin Logan hit a fly ball to center field to end the inning.
Ventimilia would score the gamewinner after he drew a walk to lead off the bottom half of the 11th, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, then scored from second on Kitamura's single into center field for the 5-4 final score.
Popkins, Politi and Lynch each went 2-for-4 as Popkins scored twice and Politi and Lynch combined for three RBI.
Ventimilia went 3-for-4 with three runs for Hawai'i while AJ Bayus drove in two runs in the win.
The series finale is set for Sunday at 4:05 PDT and will be shown live on ESPN3.com.
