Henderson Helps Aztecs Finish Hawaii, Stay Alive

When Harry Henderson got to Rainbow Stadium Friday, he looked for his name on the San Diego State University lineup card . . . and kept looking. Once the regular cleanup hitter, he found himself ninth in the order.

A different address maybe, but it was the same old Henderson who drove in three runs, including two on a bloop single in a five-run eight-inning rally, powering the Aztecs to a wild 8-7 victory over the University of Hawaii in the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament.

The game eliminated the host Rainbows and kept the once-beaten Aztecs alive at least for a few more hours, pending the outcome of their late game Friday against the loser of Wyoming and Brigham Young.

A victory would put the Aztecs into a game today at 7 p.m. (PDT) against the remaining unbeaten team in the double-elimination tournament. They would have to win twice (a second game, if necessary, would be played at 10:30) to win the championship.

The champion earns an automatic berth in next week’s 48-team NCAA regional playoffs, but second might be good enough to get the Aztecs there as an at-large entry, given their record (46-15), best in the conference.

Henderson’s record in the final regular-season series against Hawaii--1 for 5, 1 RBI--had earned him a demotion.

“He showed signs of struggling a little bit, so I figured putting him in the No. 9 hole might take a little of the pressure off him,” Aztec Coach Jim Dietz said.

Henderson singled in a fifth-inning run that helped the Aztecs to a 3-0 lead after six innings, and he helped them overcome a 6-3 deficit in the eighth.

John Marshall (10-2) won the game with 1 innings of relief.

Erik Plantenberg was sailing along with a four-hitter and a 3-0 lead in the seventh when the Rainbows broke a three-game, 0-for-13 slump with men in scoring position to cut the lead to 3-2. A single, walk and Larry Gonzales’ one-out ground-rule double made it 3-1, and an infield out produced the other run.

They took a 6-3 lead in the eighth.

Jim Gibbs, SDSU’s losing pitcher in relief against Wyoming Thursday, started the inning walking Steve Morris and then picked him off. But with two outs, it all unwound. Gibbs walked one batter, hit one and went to 3 and 0 on another before yielding to Dave Riddle.

Riddle gave up another ball to load the bases and walked one of his own to force in the tying run. That brought on Jack Skoog, who gave up the only Rainbow hit of the inning, pinch-hitter Steve Otani’s three-run double to right.

But the Rainbows couldn’t hold the lead any better than the Aztecs in the bottom of the inning.

Hawaii starter Brad Jenson gave up a leadoff single to Jeff Champ and exited in favor of Norman Holt, who managed to get one out before consecutive singles by Anthony Johnson, John Anderson and Lance Pinnell--the last a two-run liner to right--made it 6-5. Enter Mark Kawakami, who gave up a single to Jeff Barry, loading the bases, then hit Casey McKeon with an 0-and-2 pitch to tie it.

Henderson then drove in the winning runs.