For the sixth time in 22 years, the No. 14-ranked Shockers captured the Bank of America Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament.
They scored four runs in the first inning that pitcher Steve Foral made sure stood up in yesterday's 5-1 victory over the University of Washington before a Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,167.
"When we come over here, we expect to play in the championship," Wichita State head coach Gene Stephenson said. "We got off to a slow start with that loss to Nebraska, but we came back, played well and got the trophy."
New NCAA rules will allow a team to come to a tournament like this only once every four years. That means the Shockers can't win it again until after the turn of the century. As much as he likes Stephenson, that suits UH head coach Les Murakami just fine. Maybe by then, he'll have a team that can compete with them.
Saturday's heartbreaking loss to Washington put Hawaii into the third-place game with Cal State-Northridge. About the time the Shockers were heading back to Kansas with the winning trophy in hand, the Rainbows were getting run through by the Matadors.
The former Western Athletic Conference rival avenged a heartbreaking loss of its own to the Rainbows with a convincing 8-2 win yesterday to finish third in the week-long event.
Hawaii's fourth-place showing is the lowest in school history. The Rainbows have won this event 10 times. They finished 3-4 this week to fall to 10-27 for the season.
Hawaii must win its last 19 games to have a winning season. Barring this miracle, Murakami will finish with his first losing campaign since UH went to an all-collegiate schedule in 1975.
After pitching fairly well in a win over New Mexico last Tuesday, Robby Robinson struggled against the mighty Matadors' bats. He lasted only 3-1/3 innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits to fall to 2-7 for the season.
"I don't know what was wrong with Robby," Murakami said. "You could tell by his body language that he didn't want to be in there. It's a good thing we didn't play Wichita State for the championship because they would have blown us out."
The Matadors scored three runs in the first, but it was a grand-slam homer in the fourth by Jose Miranda that did in Robinson.
"He came in with a slider and I got all of it," Miranda said. "The only thing I had to worry about was whether it was fair. But it went right over the top of the right-field foul pole."
Meanwhile, Benny Flores went the distance for Northridge, limiting the Rainbows to only a pair of runs in the fourth on a double by freshman Sean Murphy, who joined teammate Neal Honma on the all-tournament team.
Flores yielded only four hits and three walks, while striking out eight to run his record to 7-2 for the season. Northridge is now 24-14-1 overall.
"He did a good job spotting his fastball and change-up," Northridge head coach Mike Batesolo said. "We didn't play as well in the tournament as we would have liked, but it's good to finish third considering. A run or two here and there, and we're playing Wichita State for the title."
That honor fell on the capable shoulders of the Washington Huskies. After starting pitcher Jeff Lynch was unable to register an out in six batters, Blair Fowler came in to give up only one run in seven innings.
But Foral, who was voted the most outstanding pitcher, wouldn't fold. In seven innings, he yielded no runs on four hits, while striking out eight.
The most outstanding player was Washington's Kevin Miller, who set a tournament record with 29 total bases. He also drove in 15 runs. But he wasn't a factor against the Shockers. He had only one hit and three walks.
"Foral did a good job keeping their best hitters off the base paths," Stephenson said. "I'm happy we won the tournament because we came in here with two serious injuries to the left side of our infield.
"Those guys we put in there weren't flashy, but they did what we asked and got the job done. Winning this tournament is something we can build on the rest of the way."
Nebraska 5, New Mexico 2: The Cornhuskers finished fifth in the six-team field with their win over the Lobos.
Steve Fish went the distance to pick up the win. He is now 5-3 for the season. Brian Hunt added two RBIs to assure Nebraska the win.
CS Northridge 8, Hawaii 2Cal State Northridge Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Sledge cf 3 2 1 0 Blakely cf 4 1 2 0 Pierce lf 4 0 1 0 Honma lf 3 1 0 0 Kennedy ss 4 2 1 0 Millichap rf 3 0 1 0 Miranda rf 2 3 1 4 Murphy 3b 4 0 1 2 MacMillan 3b 5 0 2 0 Nakano dh 3 0 0 0 Martinez 2b 3 0 1 1 Voshell ph 1 0 0 0 Mendoza 1b 5 0 1 1 Perreira c 4 0 0 0 Sickles c 5 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 2 0 0 0 Pitstick dh 5 1 1 0 Masanda 2b 3 0 0 0 Pico ss 3 0 0 0 Totals 36 8 9 6 Totals 30 2 4 2 Cal State Northridge 301 400 000--8 Hawaii 000 200 000--2E--Aloy 2, Pico 2, Robinson. DP--CSN 1 (Mendoza unassisted). LOB--CSN 10, Hawaii 4.
2B--Blakely, Millichap, Murphy. HR--Miranda (15). SB--Pitstick (1). S--Pierce, Martinez.
IP H R ER BB SO Flores (W,7-2) 9 4 2 2 3 8 Robinson (L,2-7) 3-1/3 7 8 7 3 1 Spurgeon 3-2/3 2 0 0 1 2 Binkie 2 0 0 0 1 3HBP--Miranda and Sledge (by Robinson). T--2:52. A--1,167 (turnstile), 2,953 (tickets sold).
Umpires--Montalbo (plate), Shelstad (bases).
Wichita St. 5, Washington 1
Washington 000 000 001--1 7 3 Wichita State 401 000 00x--5 11 1Jeff Lynch, Blair Fowler (1), Cody Morrison (8) and Ryan Bundy; Steve Foral, Nate Robertson (8) and Nathan Reese. W--Foral (6-1). L--Lynch (0-3).
Leading hitters--WSU: Chris Magruder, 3-5; Bundy, 2b; Bryan Williamson, 2b. Wash: Pat Magness, 2-4, 2b; Jeff Ryan, 2-4, 2b; Casey Davis, 2-4; Reese, 2-4.
Nebraska 5, New Mexico 2
New Mexico 000 011 00--2 5 1 Nebraska 032 000 0x--5 6 0R. Gonzalez, Greg Anderson (3) and Chad Alevras; Steve Fish and Andrew Sawyers. W--Fish (5-3). L--Gonzalez (2-4).
Leading hitters--UNM: Ryan Beggs, 2b. Neb: Bryan Schmidt, 2-3; Brian Hunt, 2 RBIs.
Tournament AwardsOutstanding pitcher Steve Foral, Wichita State
All-Tournament team--Catcher: Nathan Reese, Wichita State. First base: Ryan Soules, Washington. Second base: Kevin Hooper, Wichita State. Third base: Sean Murphy, Hawaii. Shortstop: Miller, Washington. Outfielders: Francis Collins, Nebraska; Neal Honma, Hawaii; Bryan Williamson, Washington. Designated hitter: Jeff Ryan, Wichita State. Pitchers: Foral, Wichita State.; Jason Krafft, Wichita State.