The 2010 WAC Baseball Tournament got underway on Wednesday afternoon and fans were treated to an extra-inning game and an upset on day one as 4-seed Hawai’i came from behind twice to defeat 5-seed Louisiana Tech 8-7 and 6-seed San Jose State shut out 3-seed Nevada 6-0.
Game One – #4 Hawai’i 8, #5 Louisiana Tech 7 (10)
Hawai’i second baseman Kolten Wong hit 2-run home runs in back-to-back at bats to propel 4-seed Hawai’i past 5-seed Louisiana Tech in 10 innings. The Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead early but a three run sixth inning by the Bulldogs gave La. Tech a 3-2 lead which they would take into the top of the eighth inning. In the top of the eighth the Bulldogs would take advantage of a Hawai’i error scoring two of their three runs to take a 6-2 lead to the bottom of the eighth. Hawai’i would answer however as Greg Garcia tripled to lead off the inning. Garcia would score on a one-out double and then the Warriors would score again on a fielder’s choice. With two outs and one on, Wong who had gone 0-for-4 to that point, would homer to left field to tie the game at 6-6. Neither team would score in the ninth sending the game to extra innings. In the top of the 10th inning Louisiana Tech would take a 7-6 lead on a two-out single. The Warriors put the tying run on base on an error by Louisiana Tech and with two out Kolton Wong stepped to the plate and delivered the walk-off shot to right field giving the Warriors an 8-7 victory.
Lenny Linsky picked up the victory for the Warriors as he pitched 2.2 innings and improved to 3-0 on the season. Will Alvis took the loss for La. Tech and saw his record drop to 1-3.
Game 2 – #6 San Jose State 6, #3 Nevada 0
The Spartans held the league’s top run producing offense scoreless as the Spartans pulled off the first upset of the tournament. After four scoreless innings the Spartans broke the seal scoring three times in the top of the fifth inning scoring all three runs with two outs as Alex Sofranac would hit a solo home run to put the Spartans up 1-0. The next two Spartans would reach base and Tim Quiery would deliver a double to score both baserunners putting SJSU up 3-0. The Spartans would add three more runs in the top of the sixth scoring all three with one out.
Blake McFarland picked up the win for the Spartans to improve to 7-4 as he went eight innings giving up just six hits, striking out four and working around five walks. Jeremy Cole took the loss and dropped to 4-3 as he went 5.1 innings allowing all six runs and giving up nine hits while striking out just two Spartan batters.
Day 2 Previews
Game 3 – #3 Nevada vs. #5 Louisiana Tech – 11:00 a.m. PT – Elimination Game
These two teams met just this past weekend with Nevada taking three of four games in Reno to clinch the 3-seed. The Bulldogs took the second game of the series 14-8 while Nevada took game one 8-5, game three 18-1 and game four 10-5. The loser of this game is eliminated from the tournament while the winner of this game will face the lowest remaining seed from the losers of Game 4 and Game 5 at 11:00 a.m. on Friday.
Game 4 – #2 New Mexico State vs. #4 Hawai’i
The Warriors took three of four from New Mexico State in Honolulu winning the first three games, two in extra innings. The Aggies took the final game of the series 10-7. The winner of this game will face the winner of Game 5 at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Game 5 – #1 Fresno State vs. #6 San Jose State
These two teams split the regular season series in Fresno in the second to final weekend of conference play. Fresno State took the first game of the series but San Jose State won both games of the doubleheader and pushed Fresno State to the brink in the final game of the series before Fresno State won on a walk-off single. The winner of this game will face the winner of Game 4 at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.
