Jamie Ahu leans back to catch a pop fly, then tumbles to the ground.
Photos by Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
In desperate need of a good showing this weekend against Fresno State to remain in the league chase, Hawaii fell flatter than a Mike Tyson opponent.
Before a small Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,487, the Bulldogs delivered the knockout punch in yesterday's 18-3 thrashing to complete the three-game weekend sweep.
It's only the second time in UH history that a Western Athletic Conference team has used the broom on the Rainbows at home. Fresno State also accomplished the feat in 1994.
It's also the worst home defeat since Arizona State routed Hawaii 22-6 in January of 1993, and the most runs the Bulldogs have ever scored against the Rainbows.
If Albert Einstein were still alive, he might be able to whip up a mathematical formula that would have the Rainbows winning the West Division title.
But since he isn't, the likelihood of that happening borders on UH head coach Les Murakami winning the lottery. With the lopsided loss, Hawaii dropped to 18-13 overall and 5-7 in WAC play.
On the other hand, the Bulldogs put themselves right back in the race. Fresno State is tied for second with San Diego State with a 6-3 league mark. It was the Bulldogs' 11th consecutive win to raise their overall record to 18-14.
"We're really swinging a hot bat right now," Fresno State head coach Bob Bennett said. "I don't think we're that dominant of a team. We just caught Hawaii when we were way up and they were a little down.
"No way did I think coming in that we would sweep these guys. But we caught Mark Johnson on an off night and we really hit the ball well the next two games."
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they didn't make up any ground on front-running Cal State Northridge. As expected, the Matadors swept hapless Cal State-Sacramento to go to 11-2 in league play.
The Rainbows are in fourth, 51/2 games back entering this week's Bank of America Rainbow Baseball Easter Tournament.
One of the weaker tournament fields in recent memory, the caliber of competition might be just what the Rainbows need before resuming WAC play on April 5-7 at home against Sacramento State.
Hawaii opens the seven-day event tonight at 6:30 with Nittaidai. Although the game will count in the tourney standings, it will not affect the Rainbows' regular-season record.
"On paper, this field maybe isn't that strong," Murakami said. "But then again, neither are we. We need this tournament to get back and do some things with our lineup, and maybe straighten out the ship.
"I feel that loss on Friday night with Mark Johnson out there really hurt us, especially after we were up 4-0. The next two games we were out of it before they really got started.
"I don't know, maybe Mark and Paul (Ah Yat) weren't really that off after watching how hard they hit the ball all weekend," Murakami added. "We just don't have the pitching. We served up a lot of batting practice."
Fresno State wasted little time getting to UH starter Jay Spurgeon, who fell to 0-1 in his two-plus innings of work. A leadoff double and four consecutive singles resulted in four runs in the top of the first.
The Bulldogs put it out of reach in the nine-run third. They sent their first nine batters to the plate without making an out against Spurgeon and reliever Troy Yoshimasu.
Kamuela Binkie finally got an out, but still yielded four runs over the next five innings to give Bulldogs' starter Mike Powell more than enough run support.
Powell, who gave up three consecutive homers in a 29-3 loss to Northridge earlier this season, raised his record to 3-4. It was his second complete-game victory of the season.
"Mike has really pitched well for us during this streak," Bennett said.
"I thought once we got to a .500 record overall that we could do some things. We've been playing very well over the past few weeks."
Murakami would like nothing better than for his team to respond with a similar run, starting with this week's tournament that also has Oregon State, Wright State, UH-Hilo and Lewis-Clark State in the six-team field.
Tournament games begin at noon this week. All of Hawaii's games are scheduled for 6:35 p.m. except for next Sunday's championship round. The three games are set for 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. at Rainbow Stadium.
"I want to get my best defensive team on the field," Murakami said. "Hopefully, our pitching will come around and we'll start hitting the ball. We haven't hit that well in our last three series."
vcaps Bank of America donates $70,000Bank of America presented UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida with a $70,000 check in conjunction with the bank's sponsorship of the 21st annual Easter Tournament.
This marks the fourth consecutive year Bank of America has sponsored the Easter Tournament.