By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
UHassistant coach Carl Furutani gets up on his tip-toes to
argue a call with base umpire Byl Leonard yesterday. Les Murakami
is at Furutani's side, being held by plate umpire Guy Ogawa.
It proved costly for the veteran head coach in yesterday's rubber game with No. 2-ranked Southern California.
Murakami hoped starter Jamie Aloy would keep him miles from the pen.
But last week's freshman sensation against Oregon State was just the first in a long line of ineffective pitchers in the 12-4 USC victory before a Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,611.
Aloy didn't get out of the fifth inning before yielding seven earned runs on nine bone-rattling hits. If the Trojans weren't going "boom off the wall," they were lining shots through the infield with surgeon-like precision.
Murakami was forced to lift Aloy, first for Ken Mackenzie, then Daven Hermosura, Troy Yoshimasu, Kamuela Binkie and finally Jay Spurgeon nearly four innings and 90 minutes later.
And it didn't get any better as the game dragged along.
Hermosura yielded two earned runs in one inning, and Yoshimasu gave up one run and three walks in two-thirds of an inning before Binkie and Spurgeon closed things down. By then, most of the USC starters were relaxing comfortably on the bench.
Murakami believes two calls early in the game by base umpire Byl Leonard set the stage for the rout.
The first was a balk against Aloy that allowed Jeff DePippo to go to second. He later scored USC's third run on an RBI single by Robb Gorr.
The second call was on a bunt by Greg Hanoian that went from a sacrifice to a hit when Leonard called him safe at first.
That led to a 10-minute heated discussion that eventually resulted in pitching coach Carl Furutani being tossed by Leonard.
"What bothered me was first he said our guy was off the bag," Murakami said. "But I told him, 'Don't tell me that because I can see.' Then he says their guy beat the throw to first, and I know that didn't happen."
Replays clearly show that the throw beat Hanoian to the bag. What wasn't as clear was whether UH first baseman Key Voshell's foot was on the first-base sack.
Those three runs may have hurt Hawaii early on, but the Rainbows' poor pitching contributed more to the lopsided loss.
This is the ninth game in 16 that the opposition has scored in double figures.
The Rainbows fell to 4-12, while the Trojans improved to 10-3. It's the first time USC has won a series in Hawaii since 1989.
"We made a lucky defensive play in the first inning that saved two runs. But obviously, we're happy to win the series, especially after losing the opener.
"I've said this already, but if Hawaii can get three starters healthy, they have a pretty good ballclub. We just got into their bullpen and that's been a problem for them all season."
The Rainbows have one more nonconference series this weekend with UH-Hilo before embarking for the mainland to open Western Athletic Conference play against San Jose State.
At this point, the only realistic road to postseason play is by doing well in the WAC. For that to happen, Hawaii must have Andrew McNally healthy and ready to go over the next two months.
"We want him to pitch some this weekend against Hilo," Murakami said. "He said he feels fine, but a groin pull is something that doesn't heal very easily.
"I think we'll probably go with Dusty Bergman as our No. 3 guy when Andrew gets back. We can put Aloy in for middle and long relief because that's where we're hurting the most right now."
One reliever who did fare well was closer Jay Spurgeon. The hard-throwing junior pitched two shutout innings against the Trojans yesterday afternoon and Saturday night. He yielded three hits, walked none and struck out three.
"He's coming around for us," Murakami said. "We can do all right in the WAC, we just need to get everyone back and ready to go.
"I still believe we can be competitive. Playing teams like USC, UCLA and Cal show us how we match up.
"You learn a lot more about your team in losses to good teams than wins over bad ones."
Southern Ca Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Gorr 2b-ss 5 1 3 2 Honma cf 5 0 1 0 Mirizzi ss 4 1 1 1 Masanda 2b 3 0 2 0 Ticehurst rf 1 0 1 0 Takemura 2b 0 0 0 0 Walbridge 1b 5 2 4 1 Medeiros lf 4 1 1 2 Munson c 1 1 1 2 Millichap rf 3 0 1 0 Sanchez 2b 1 0 0 0 Nakano dh 4 0 0 0 Ensberg 3b 4 1 2 1 Murphy 3b 4 0 0 0 Ponchak dh 4 0 0 0 Perreira c 2 1 1 0 Casillas ph 1 0 0 0 Hansen c 2 0 1 0 DePippo lf-c 4 3 2 0 Voshell 1b 3 1 0 0 Hanoian cf 5 2 2 0 Dartt ss 3 1 2 1 Freitas rf-lf 4 1 1 3 Konishi ph 0 0 0 0 Totals 39 12 17 10 Totals 33 4 9 3 Southern Cal 210 242 100--12 Hawaii 000 040 000-- 4E--Gorr. DP--Southern Cal 2 ( Mirizzi-Gorr-Walbridge, Sanchez-Gorr). LOB--Southern Cal 10, Hawaii 6.
2B--Ensberg 2, Hanoian, Masanda, Millichap, Perreita, Hansen. 3B--Walbridge. SB--Ensberg (3), DePippo (4), Hanoian (1). S--Mirizzi, Masanda. SF--Gorr, Munson 2.
IP H R ER BB SO Henderson (W, 3-1) 7 7 4 3 2 4 Penney 2 1 0 0 0 1 Vieira 1 1 0 0 0 1 Aloy (L, 1-4) 4-1/3 9 7 7 2 1 Mackenzie 2/3 3 2 2 0 0 Hermosura 1 2 2 2 1 0 Yoshimasu 2/3 1 1 1 3 0 Binkie 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 1 Spurgeon 1 2 0 0 0 1WP--Aloy, Mackenzie 2. Balk--Henderson, Aloy. HBP--Konishi (by Vieira).
T--3:10. A--1,611 (turnstile), 2,973 (tickets issued).
Umpires--Ogawa (plate), Leonard (bases).