The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Hawaii
No. 6 Baseball wins series finale at Hawai'i, 4-3
02.27.2011 | Baseball
Feb. 27, 2011
Box Score | Box Score 
HONOLULU - The No. 6 Texas Longhorns got a strong starting performance from junior left-hander Sam Stafford and used four relief pitchers to hold on for a 4-3 win in the rubber match of a three-game series against the Hawaii Rainbows at Les Murakami Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Stafford (1-0) earned his first career win scattering three hits and five walks while striking out a career-high 10 over 5.1 innings. Kendal Carrillo worked 2.0 innings allowing two unearned runs on three hits while striking out one. Hoby Milner allowed one run on three hits and one walk while striking out one in 0.2 innings. Keifer Nuncio recorded two outs with three pitches for his first career save.
"It was a hard fought game," Garrido said. "After last night's 15-inning game, both teams were a little short on pitching. Hawaii is a good team and they did not quit all series. Every time we scored, they responded."
The Longhorns (5-3) looked to be cruising to its fourth shutout of the season before things got precarious in the bottom half of the eighth. With the Longhorns leading 4-0 with one out and Carrillo on the mound, Jeffrey Van Doornum reached on a fielding error by Jordan Etier. Two batters later, Pi'ikea Kitamura delivered Hawaii's first home run of season to drive in two unearned runs and shave the lead to 4-2.
Hawaii (3-4) mounted another rally in the ninth. With Hoby Milner pitching, Kolten Wong singled to leftfield and Zack Swasney walked to start the inning. Sean Montplaisir's sac bunt went awry forcing Wong out at third, but a fielding error by Erich Weiss on a ground ball by Collin Bennett loaded the bases. Nuncio came out of the bullpen and after running the count to 0-2 on Connor George induced a game-ending, line-drive 1-3 double play.
"The last pitch was supposed to be in the dirt," Nuncio said. "But it got up a bit and he was able to get the bat on it. It was a pretty hard shot. Once I gloved it I just had to figure out which bases was easiest to throw to for the second out."
Texas drew first blood in the top of the third inning. Etier pushed a bunt past the Rainbows pitcher and second baseman Wong's throw which was late to first base went errant allowing Etier to move to second. A ground out to shortstop moved Etier to third base and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Loy.
The Longhorns tacked on two runs in the fourth inning. Weiss hit a leadoff double to the wall in leftfield. Cohl Walla pushed Weiss to third with a sacrifice bunt. Lucas Kephart bounced a grounder to second base and Weiss took a big enough lead off third to induce a throw from Wong. His throw went awry allowing Weiss to score and pushing Kephart to second. Tant Shepherd capped off the inning with a single to centerfield driving in Kephart for the 3-0 lead.
Texas manufactured an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning. Mark Payton singled to the gap in right centerfield and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Weiss. He stole third base and came around to score when Hawaii's catcher air mailed the throw down the leftfield line to stake the Horns to a 4-0 lead.
"We're a team in transition," Garrido said. "We're still working on finding a closer and we're working on confidence in other areas. This is not the same team you will see at the end of the season. The guys are working hard and the improvement will show in games. I'm much happier with their approach this weekend than I was on Tuesday."
Hawaii was doomed by runners left on base with 12 castaways in the game. They had bases loaded in the fourth inning, but Stafford hunkered down to strike out George looking and Kitamura and Almadova swinging. He continued a streak of six consecutive strikeouts fanning the side in order in the fifth.
"I got in a tight spot," Stafford said. "I just had to remember I have a strong defense behind me and I just worked on throwing good pitches. I walked a few more guys than I would like to today, but I felt I was attacking the hitters."
The Rainbows loaded the bases again with two outs in the sixth, but Carrillo came in from the bullpen and induced a humpback line drive to Loy at shortstop to end the inning.
Payton led Texas on the afternoon going 2-for-4 with one run and one stolen base.
Wong went 3-for-5 and Van Doornum went 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI.
Texas returns to action on Friday with a three-game series against the Stanford Cardinal at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
