By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Jamie Aloy didn't have overpowering stuff,
but he got the job done.
Even with a large lead, the freshman from Maui preferred to stay in the game. He ended up throwing nearly 150 pitches on his way to the first complete game of the year for the University of Hawaii.
The resulting 11-3 victory yesterday before a small Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,160 salvaged the finale of a three-game series with Oregon State.
This week, powerful Southern California comes to town with Murakami wondering just who will be healthy and who won't.
Top starter Andrew McNally might be forced to sit this one out in order to rest a nagging groin pull. Murakami said the team will try to find McNally an acupuncture specialist this week.
"He said he has had this problem before and that it worked last time," the Rainbows coach said. "We'll have to wait and see how he feels. We may try to keep him out to get him ready for (Western Athletic Conference) play."
Hawaii opens league play with San Jose State in three weeks, leaving Murakami precious little time to get McNally healed up.
Even Aloy is still bothered by a sore thumb he hurt last weekend against California. It limited him to mostly fastballs and change-ups in yesterday's win, but he mixed the speeds effectively enough to raise his record to 1-3 and lower his earned run average to 5.93.
"My change-up was my bread-and-butter pitch," Aloy said. "I felt strong. I wanted to stay in there and get the complete game. Our bullpen needed some rest.
"I'll have to wait and see how my arm responds (today), but it just feels great to get my first win. My thumb still hurt a little, so I only threw maybe six or seven curves all day."
He still held the Beavers to only three runs on five hits. Aloy struck out eight and walked three. Murakami has settled on McNally, Aloy and Robby Robinson as his starting pitchers.
"It's still the middle relief that has me concerned," Murakami said. "Aloy showed everyone you don't have to have an overpowering fastball to be effective. I hope our other pitchers took notes."
Hawaii notched three runs in the opening inning, but poor base running and a bad call by the umpires kept it from being more.
Neal Honma got things started with a one-hop shot to right-center that hit off the top of the wall for an apparent triple. But umpire Byl Leonard ruled the ball bounced off the scoreboard - a call instant replay disputed - keeping Honma at second.
He advanced to third on an error by shortstop Troy Schader that allowed Daren Masanda to reach first safely. As Robert Medeiros went down swinging, Masanda got caught in a rundown between first and second.
On the play, Honma tried to score from third and was cut down at the plate on a perfect throw by first baseman Matt Bailie. Masanda went to second on the throw to the plate and scored the first run of the game on a triple to right by Greg Millichap.
Millichap scored on a double down the right-field line by Sean Murphy. The freshman infielder went to third on a balk and scored on an error by second baseman Ryan McDonald to give Hawaii a 3-0 lead.
But the Beavers cut into it quickly with a pair of runs in the second. Bailie opened the inning with a ground-rule double to left-center. After Mike Leone drew a one-out walk, both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch by Aloy. Ryan Lipe made him pay for it with a two-run single to center.
The Rainbows got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the second on a sacrifice fly by Honma that scored Tracy Nakano from third.
Hawaii broke it open with a four-run fourth. Key Voshell got things started with a double down the right-field line. He advanced to third on a wild pitch. After David Perreira walked, Nakano cleared the bases with a two-run triple to right.
He scored on a single to center by Michael Dartt. He went to second on Honma's excellent bunt single and to third on a throwing error by the catcher.
Nakano scored on a wild pitch. Honma went to second on the play, stole third and scored on another throwing error by catcher Ben Bertrand to give the Rainbows an insurmountable lead.
"This is a game we needed," Murakami said. "Hopefully, we can get Andrew back, and maybe get things going in the right direction in time for league play."
Oregon State Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Vermillion cf 4 0 0 0 Honma cf 4 1 2 1 McDonald 2b 3 0 0 0 Masanda 2b 5 1 1 0 Checketts ph 0 0 0 0 Medeiros lf 4 0 1 0 Hedges lf 0 2 0 0 Millichap rf 5 2 2 1 Schader ss 4 0 0 0 Murphy 3b 3 1 1 1 Bailie 1b 4 0 0 0 Voshell 1b 4 2 3 0 Bertrand c 2 1 1 0 Perreira c 2 1 0 0 Cowan c 1 0 0 0 Hansen c 1 0 1 1 Skeen rf 3 1 1 0 Nakano dh 2 2 1 3 Leone dh 3 1 1 0 Dartt ss 4 1 2 1 Lipe 3b 4 0 2 3 Stranberg lf 2 0 0 0 Lake ph 1 0 0 0 Hilts lf-2b 0 0 0 0 Totals 32 3 5 3 Totals 34 11 14 8 Oregon State 020 000 100-- 3 Hawaii 310 500 20x--11E-Bertrand 2, McDonald, Schader, Murphy. DP-OSU 1 (McDonald-Schader-Bailie), UH 1 (Dartt-Masanda-Voshell). LOB-Oregon St. 5, Hawaii 5.
2B-Bertrand, Skeen, Dartt, Honma, Millichap, Murphy, Voshell 2. 3B-Millichap, Nakano. SB-Lipe (1), Honma (7), Medeiros (8). SF-Honma, Nakano.
IP H R ER BB SO Bowman (L, 0-1) 3 7 7 4 2 3 Messman 1/3 2 2 1 1 0 Cook 3-2/3 4 2 2 1 3 Swinburnson 1 1 0 0 0 1 Aloy (W, 1-3) 9 5 3 3 3 8WP-Bowman, Messman, Aloy. Balk-Bowman. T-2:48. A-1,160 (turnstile), 2,634 (tickets issued).
Umpires-Leonard, Poole.