Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawaii
Baseball Defeats Hawai'i 6-5 in Extra Innings
2/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 25, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - Senior shortstop Josh Labandeira's (Porterville, Calif.) single in the bottom of the eleventh scored Brandon Gemoll (Jr., San Jose, Calif.) and Dan Young (Sr., Orange, Calif.) for the tying run and the winning run to give Fresno State a 6-5 win, before 2,695 at Pete Beiden Field. Nick Moran (Jr., Elk Grove, Calif.) entered the game in the top of the ninth for the Bulldogs and gave them a solid 2 1/3 innings with three strikeouts for the win, to improve his record to 1-1.
Hawai'i got on the board first in the top of the sixth when they scored four runs. Gregg Omori hit a double with runners on first and second to score Patrick Scalabrini and Matthew Purtell giving Hawai'i a 2-0 lead. Three batters later Brian Bock doubled to score Gregg Omori and Ryan Anderson increasing the Rainbows lead to 4-0.
Fresno State responded in the top of the eighth by scoring three runs. Oscar Lopez (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) led off the inning with a walk and two batters later McGehee singled to advance Lopez to third. Labandeira stepped to the plate and hit a high sacrifice fly into right field giving Lopez the opportunity to score the Bulldogs first run of the game. McGehee stole second to get himself in scoring position and Simon Tafoya (Sr., Pittsburg, Calif.) singled to score McGehee. The following batter Nick Garcia (Sr., Lakewood, Calif.) hit a single into right center field to score Tafoya cutting Hawai'i's lead to 4-3.
In the ninth with the game in jeopardy of being lost Tom Creighton scored the tying run on a fielding error by the Hawai'i shortstop Cortland Wilson when he could not handle the shot from Gemoll.
Hawai'i took the lead again in the top of the eleventh when Garcia could not handle a shot by Scalabrini that scored Wilson giving Hawai'i a one run lead going into the bottom of the eleventh.
The Bulldogs continued to fight back all afternoon and with the game on the line Fresno State would not quit. Labandeira hit a single to score Young and Gemoll in dramatic fashion. Improving Fresno State's overall record to 9-5, and 4-1 in the WAC, while Hawai'i drops to 7-7 overall, and 2-3 in the WAC.
The Bulldogs and Hawai'i will be back in action Monday night a 7 p.m. in the friendly confines of Pete Beiden Field.
