The University of Hawaii baseball coach has one proven starter, who's hurt, and one proven reliever, who's still academically impaired, and not much else, as last night's hit parade at Rainbow Stadium would suggest.
The No. 2-rated UCLA Bruins must have thought they were still taking batting practice as they rocked and rolled over starter Robby Robinson and relievers Kamuela Binkie, Michael Sakaino and Kelly Konishi en route to a 23-11 drumming of the Rainbows.
This debacle tied the record for most runs scored off UH pitchers. In March of 1975, Oklahoma beat Hawaii, 23-6. That week the Sooners would knock off the Rainbows eight times.
With top pitcher Andrew McNally still ailing with a groin pull and senior reliever Daven Hermosura back in the academic bullpen, it could get even worse over the next two days.
Murakami will have to depend on freshmen Jamie Aloy and Dusty Bergman tonight and tomorrow. Both are 0-1 with double-digit earned run averages.
Robinson did nothing to improve his already astronomical numbers, thanks in part to giving up nine earned runs in 31/3 innings to fall to 0-1 for the season with an ERA of 18.77.
UCLA had 12 extra-base hits - including two homers by U.S. Olympian Troy Glaus, a grand slam by Nick Theodorou and a two-run blast by Jon Heinrichs - to pick up a win in its first game of the season. Hawaii fell to 1-4.
"Pitching has been the name of the game since I was knee-high to a grasshopper," UCLA coach Gary Adams said. "I don't care if you have eight guys who can hit the ball all over the park. You can't win if you can't pitch.
"I told our guys not to get a big head about this game. We still have two left and we start 0-0 (tonight). I'd have to think McNally is going to pitch and if he does, I can guarantee you we won't score 23 runs in that game."
It was the most runs given up by Hawaii since Fresno State's 18-3 victory here last March and the fourth consecutive game the Rainbows have yielded double-digit numbers, something that could continue considering how well UCLA's veteran outfit swings the bat.
"I knew these guys would be better than Miami of Florida," Murakami said. "They have a lot of guys who have played together three or four years.
"We just don't have the pitching. We thought Hermosura was going to be back, but (top academic adviser Kaia Hedlund) ruled against us. We could still get him by next week."
After watching what UCLA did last night, he can't be back soon enough. The Bruins scored one run in the first on Eric Valent's RBI-single.
UCLA added five more runs in the second on an RBI-single by Heinrichs, a run-scoring double by Eric Byrnes and a three-run homer to left by Glaus. Fellow Olympian Jim Parque had trouble in the bottom half of the second.
After getting the first two batters, the junior pitcher had a hard time overcoming a throwing error by freshman third baseman Aldo Pinto on a routine grounder by David Perreira.
Hawaii went on to score four unearned runs on a bases-loaded infield hit by Neal Honma, a two-run single to center by Daren Masanda and a throwing error by catcher Mike Maramillo that scored a stealing Honma from third to make it 6-4 after two.
But it wasn't close long.
The Bruins chased Robinson with a four-run barrage in the fourth. The key hits were a run-scoring triple by Heinrichs, an RBI-double by Byrnes and a two-run double by Theodorou.
UCLA broke it open in the fifth with the homers by Theodorou and Heinrichs. Hawaii added six runs on an RBI-groundout by Perreira in the seventh, and a two-run double by Perreira, a run-scoring single by Robert Medeiros and an RBI-double by Greg Millichap in the eighth.
UCLA Hawaii
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Heinrichs lf 5 3 3 4 Honma lf 5 2 2 1
Hymes lf 1 0 1 1 Takamori lf 1 0 0 0
Byrnes rf 6 4 4 3 Masanda 2b 5 0 2 2
Glaus ss 3 4 3 4 Medeiros 1b 3 1 2 1
Nista ss 1 0 0 0 Millichap rf 4 1 1 2
E.Valent cf 4 2 2 1 Voshell 1b 4 0 0 0
R.Valent cf 1 0 0 0 Hansen c 1 0 0 0
Theodorou 2b 5 1 2 7 Murphy 3b 4 2 2 0
Matoian 2b 0 1 0 0 Perreira dh 5 2 2 3
Pieper dh 5 0 0 0 Blakely cf 4 1 2 1
Cloud ph 1 1 1 0 Takemura cf 0 0 0 0
Pinto 3b 5 0 0 0 Dartt ss 4 2 1 0
Schult 3b 1 1 1 2
Olson 1b 5 3 3 1
Jaramillo c 4 2 1 0
Green c 2 1 1 0
Totals 49 23 22 23 Totals 40 11 14 10
UCLA 150 460 223--23
Hawaii 040 100 150--11
E-E.Valent, Jaramillo, Pinto, Murphy. DP-UCLA 2 (Glaus-Olson, Theodorou-Olson). LOB-UCLA 4, Hawaii 10.2B-Byrnes 3, E.Valent, Green, Theodorou, Millichap, Murphy, Perreira. 3B-Heinrichs, Schult. HR-Glaus 2, Heinrichs, Theodorou. SB-Honma (2), Masanda (1), Millichap 2 (3). SF-Olson.
IP H R ER BB SO Parque (W,1-0) 6 8 5 1 6 4 Thieleman 3 6 6 6 1 3 Robinson (L,0-1) 3-1/3 11 10 9 1 1 Binkie 1 3 5 5 2 0 Sakaino 2-2/3 3 3 3 0 1 Konishi 2 5 5 5 1 0WP-Thieleman, Konishi, Sakaino. HBP-Medeiros (by Parque). PB-Medeiros.
T-3:20. A-1,225 (turnstile), 2,637 (tickets distributed).
Umpires-Ogawa, Montalbo.