Since Paul Ah Yat blew last Wednesday's game at Cal State-Northridge, they've barely laid a glove on the University of Hawaii pitcher.He was perfect through four innings in the suspended second matchup at Northridge and was close to it again in Hawaii's 2-1 victory over Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in yesterday's rubber game of a key Western Athletic Conference series.
The Rainbows have now won two league series on the road this season, something they hadn't done since beating Colorado State and Air Force in 1991.
Yesterday's win also kept Hawaii close to front-running Northridge in the West Division chase. The Rainbows are in third place with a 5-4 league mark and 18-10 overall record. The Matadors are 8-2 and 23-6, respectively.
Hawaii also has two suspended games and one rainout to make up next month against Cal State-Sacramento and Northridge that could help the Rainbows down the stretch.
Besides those games, Hawaii will play three at home this weekend against Fresno State and then begin Easter Tournament play next Monday.
Once that week-long event is completed, the Rainbows have Sacramento State in for three on April 5-7 and Northridge on April 12-14.
"No question, we need to win as many games as we can over the next month," UH head coach Les Murakami said last night. "We went 2-2 on this road trip, but we should have been 3-1.
"Had we held on to win that first game at Northridge, then we would be in great shape for the rest of the season. As it is, we're just in OK shape."
The Rainbows would have been far from OK had they blown an outstanding pitching performance by Ah Yat. He recorded nine strikeouts - including several in pressure-packed situations - scattered four hits, and walked four to raise his record to 5-3 and lower his ERA to 4.71.
"Getting out of the troubled innings gave me a lot more confidence that I could get the job done," Ah Yat said. "I dug down deep and felt like I wouldn't be stopped. And that's how it turned out. I think this also will help us a lot in our future WAC games."
Murakami certainly hopes so as the Rainbows return home for a three-game series with Fresno State beginning Friday night.
He already has decided to go with a different starter in Sunday's final game against the streaking Bulldogs, who have won seven in a row.
"We won't go with Robby Robinson," Murakami said. "If Randon Ho is OK, we'd like to go with him. If his finger is broken, then we'll have to think about someone else."
Robinson was tagged with last Saturday's loss against the Mustangs, and has proved to be too erratic for Murakami's taste. Ho injured the middle finger of his left hand during batting practice.
He was shagging fly balls when a line drive off the bat of Mark Johnson struck Ho right on the hand. He will have X-rays tomorrow.
Fortunately for the Rainbows, Ho wasn't needed against Cal Poly, thanks to a pair of back-to-back complete-game wins by Johnson and Ah Yat.
The Rainbows took a 1-0 lead in yesterday's final appearance for Hawaii at San Luis Obispo Stadium. Hot-hitting Greg Millichap got things started in the second inning with a one-out double into the gap in right. He came around to score on a sharp single to left by designated hitter Tracy Nakano off losing pitcher Jason Novi, who fell to 1-3 for the season.
The Mustangs, who are 4-6 in league play and 10-13 overall, came right back to tie it in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring single by Matt Pries that held up until the seventh.
That's when Hawaii broke the tie on a two-out single to left by No. 9 hitter Darren Blakely that scored Nakano from third. Nakano had reached safely on a forceout.
Ah Yat, who had worked his way out of trouble in the seventh with a runner on third, did it again by striking out Rob Neal in the eighth with two men in scoring position.
He was so pumped up in the ninth, he struck out the first two batters he faced before getting Jeff Marston to ground out to Ah Yat to end the game.
"It was an awesome pitching performance by Paul, no question," Murakami said. "It's the best he has pitched all year."
UH-Hilo 6, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo 4 When the Rainbows were done with Cal Poly, the University of Hawaii-Hilo rallied to beat the Mustangs, 6-4, in a night game at San Luis Obispo Stadium.
"They had five errors and we took advantage of their mistakes," said Joey Estrella, head coach for the Vulcans, who improved to 6-19. "When you start the season the way we did, you like to take advantage of everything."
With the game tied at 4-4 in the eighth, Felipe Caoili led off with a walk. He reached third when Michael Jackson's bunt back to pitcher Rich Campbell was thrown away.
Caoili scored the winning run on a Campbell wild pitch.
Winner Brendan Sagara pitched three innings of no-hit relief, allowing only one base runner and striking out four.