Do-or-die for UH baseball today

LIHU‘E — The University of Hawai‘i Rainbow baseball team (32-26) dropped the first game of the championship round against the Fresno State Bulldogs (38-24), 14-5, in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament at Hohokam Stadium, Saturday.

The loss sets up a winner-take-all championship game today at 9 a.m. (12 p.m. PST), according to a press release from the UH athletic department.

Connor Little (2-2) took the loss for UH while Matt Morse (4-5) got the win.

Collin Bennett went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, a double and a run, breaking the WAC Tournament record with seven doubles in the tournament.

Kolten Wong was 2 for 4 with a triple and two runs with Pi‘ikea Kitamura going 2 for 4 with one RBI and a run. Sean Montplaisir also went 2 for 4 with one RBI while Greg Garcia was 1 for 3 with a run.

Wong opened the game with a leadoff triple to start a big top of the first for the ’Bows. Kitamura drove him in, then scored on a two-run double by Bennett.

Montplaisir later drove in Bennett to cap the four-run inning. The Bulldogs did answer in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs to cut it back to 4-2 after one.

Van Doornum drove in Wong in the top of the second to get it to 5-2, but the Bulldog bats went to work in the bottom of the inning, scoring six runs to jump ahead 8-5. Danny Muno, who ended the night the first Bulldog to ever hit for the cycle, hit a solo homer before the ’Dawgs scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third, extending their lead to 10-5.

The Bulldogs would put up two runs in the fifth, then one each in the seventh and eighth to make it 14-5.

Today’s game will determine the WAC Tournament champion and the automatic bid to an NCAA Regional.