McNally happy
By Paul Arnett
to finally pitch in
Star-BulletinSenior pitcher Andrew McNally looked like this year's University of Hawaii poster boy. Sitting between two tables on a small stool, McNally had four bags of ice located on strategic points of his body as he savored his first victory in almost three months.
The gritty pitcher from Down Under made his first appearance since March 29 a special one as he helped lead the Rainbows to a 7-2 victory over West Division leader San Jose State.
A cozy Rainbow Stadium crowd of 763 was treated to the McNally of old yesterday, not the one plagued by nasty groin pulls all season. He limited the Spartans to one unearned run on four harmless singles. He struck out five, walked three and plunked two to raise his record to 2-2 and lower his earned run average to 6.04.
"Call me ice boy," McNally said, then smiled. "But it feels great to finally get a win and to contribute to the team. It's been a very frustrating year for me.
"I really started getting my rhythm in the third and fourth innings. There was no pain. Sometimes I could feel it a little bit. But I hadn't thrown in so long, I felt the rest did me some good."
It certainly kept the Rainbows' faint hopes alive for postseason play. The victory was their seventh in nine games, raising their league mark to 9-11 and overall record to 17-29.
Hawaii's win, coupled with losses by Texas Christian University and San Diego State, makes the Rainbows the No. 7 seed. The top six teams advance to the WAC tournament next month at San Diego State.
The Aztecs are the No. 6 seed with a 12-9 West Division record. They hold a 21/2-game lead over the Rainbows for the final spot.
Hawaii embarks on a seven-game road trip to Fresno State and North Division leading Brigham Young University before closing out the regular season with a three-game set with the Aztecs at Rainbow Stadium.
San Diego State has to travel to San Jose State this weekend, return home for a three-game series with the University of New Mexico and then head to Hawaii to end the regular season.
Fresno State trails San Jose State by a half-game in the West. The Spartans fell to 16-8 in the WAC and 31-17 overall. They are now 2-17 lifetime at Rainbow Stadium.
"This was a big win for us because we beat the top team," UH head coach Les Murakami said. It was the third consecutive series victory for Hawaii. "Having Andrew back improves our chances because he always pitches well at Fresno State.
"It's still going to be difficult for us, but if we're at least within three games of San Diego State when they come here, then we have a chance."
The Rainbows made sure of that by breaking a scoreless tie with four runs in the fifth. It began with a one-out throwing error by Spartan third baseman Ryan Johnson on a routine grounder by Tracy Nakano.
The lefty hustled down the line and just nipped the high Johnson throw that caused first baseman Robert Berns to jump. His foot came back down a split-second after Nakano hit the bag.
San Jose State head coach Sam Piaro argued the call with first base umpire Gary Montalbo, but television replays clearly showed Berns' foot was off the bag.
That play proved to be the beginning of the end for San Jose State starting pitcher Steve Carrieri. David Perreira stroked a single to right-center that allowed Nakano to take third.
Daren Masanda pushed a bunt toward first. Carrieri tried to go home to get a sliding Nakano, but was too late. Michael Dartt followed with a two-run triple into the gap in left, then scored on a single by Neal Honma to give the Rainbows a comfortable 4-0 lead.
"I knew I hit it pretty hard, but I didn't know it was for a triple until I rounded first and saw the ball roll to the wall," Dartt said. "It felt really good.
"I think we proved to ourselves the past few weeks that we can play with anybody. We're looking forward to the challenge of playing four games at Fresno State. We're definitely in the race."
Hawaii will play single games at Fresno State this Friday and Saturday, and a doubleheader on Sunday as part of a make-up game that was rained out the weekend before the Easter tournament.
Murakami said he will start seniors McNally and Daven Hermosura, freshman Dusty Bergman and junior Jay Spurgeon in the most crucial series of the season.
Box Score
San Jose State Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Vasquez 3b 3 0 1 0 Blakely cf 4 0 1 2 James 2b 4 0 0 0 Honma lf 4 0 1 1 Johnson 3b 0 0 0 0 Millichap rf 4 0 0 0 Berns 1b 2 0 1 0 Medeiros c 4 1 1 0 Richardson dh 4 0 0 0 Murphy 3b 3 1 0 0 Lauderdale lf 4 1 1 1 Nakano dh 3 2 1 0 Douglass rf 2 1 1 0 Konishi ph 1 0 0 0 Ashley c 3 0 1 0 Perreira 1b 2 1 1 0 Misplay ph 1 0 0 0 Aloy ph-1b 1 0 0 1 Lewis cf 2 0 0 0 Masanda 2b 2 1 1 1 Duncan ph-cf 1 0 0 0 Dartt ss 3 1 2 2 Totals 30 2 5 1 Totals 31 7 8 8 San Jose State 000 000 100--2 Hawaii 000 043 00x--7E -- Vasquez, Lauderdale, Masanda. DP -- Hawaii 1 (Aloy-Dartt-McNally). LOB -- San Jose State 7, Hawaii 3.3B -- Dartt. HR -- Lauderdale (6). CS -- James, Berns, Aloy, Masanda. SH -- Masanda.
IP H R ER BB SO Carrieri (L, 3-3) 5 6 5 3 0 1 Baker 2 2 2 2 2 1 McDermott 1 0 0 0 0 1 McNally ((W, 2-2) 8 4 1 0 3 5 Robinson 1 1 1 1 1 2WP -- McNally. PB -- Medeiros. HBP -- by McNally (Vasquez and Douglass).T -- 2:30. A -- 763 (turnstile), 2,616 (tickets issued).
Umpires -- Poole (plate), Ogawa (first), Montalbo (third).
WAC
West Division
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. San Jose St. 16 8 .667 -- 31 17 .646 Fresno St. 15 8 .652 -1/2 29 18 .617 San Diego St. 12 9 .571 2-1/2 30 14 .678 Hawaii 9 11 .450 5 17 29 .370San Diego State has one tie.
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. BYU 16 5 .762 -- 27 10 .730 Utah 16 5 .762 -- 29 16 .641 Grand Canyon 3 17 .150 11-1/2 11 32 .259 Air Force 2 18 .100 13-1/2 8 31 .205Utah has one tie.
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 17 8 .680 -- 34 13 .723 Texas Christian 11 13 .458 4 20 24 .454 Nev-Las Vegas 7 13 .350 6 21 25 .457 New Mexico 6 14 .300 6 19 26 .422
Hawaii 7, San Jose State 2
Fresno St. 9, San Diego St. 7 (12)
Rice 10, New Mexico 5 (1st)
Rice 3, New Mexico 1 (2nd)
Utah 14, Grand Canyon 13
UNLV 14, Texas Christian 13
1997 Rainbow Men’s Baseball
Schedule and Record
