’Bows playing for pride
in season finale
Hawaii can finish WAC play
By Paul Arnett
at .500 with a sweep of San Diego State
Star-BulletinIf you would have told Les Murakami seven weeks ago that his University of Hawaii baseball team wouldn't be eliminated from postseason play until this past weekend, he probably would have looked at you a little funny. At the time, Hawaii was 5-22 overall and coming off a 19-10 loss to New Mexico in a Western Athletic Conference game. The Rainbows were 0-8 in league play and seemed to have as much chance of breaking even in the conference as a cow jumping over the moon.
But if the Rainbows sweep rival San Diego State this weekend at Rainbow Stadium to close out this strange 1997 season, breaking even is exactly what they will do.
Last night, Hawaii arrived at Honolulu International Airport an hour late and a few games short of being able to catch the Aztecs for the sixth and final spot in the WAC tournament.
Texas Christian University's loss to Nevada-Las Vegas yesterday clinched a playoff spot for San Diego State, meaning this weekend's three-game set is for pride and position in the WAC tourney.
New Mexico defeated San Diego State yesterday to drop the Aztecs to 16-11 in league play. Even if they sweep the Rainbows, they can't catch San Jose State in the West Division. San Jose State completed a sweep of Grand Canyon yesterday to clinch at least a tie for the West Division title with a 20-10 record.
Fresno State could catch San Jose State if the Bulldogs sweep Air Force this weekend. As for the Rainbows, they are 12-15 in the league and trail the Aztecs by four games after losing two of three at Brigham Young and going 3-4 on their road trip.
"We came up a little short, but I'm proud of the way these kids came back the last couple of months," Murakami said last night. "The reason we've played better is because we got healthy and got back a couple of pitchers (Daven Hermosura and Ken Mackenzie), who had academic problems early on.
"If we had had Hermosura and (Andrew) McNally (groin injury) with us all season, we would probably be in the WAC tournament, no question. But what are you going to do? We were in all seven games at BYU and Fresno State.
"But our guys are so banged up, we barely could field an outfield for Saturday's game. We had guys out there with hurt legs, bad backs and sore arms. These seven games were very difficult, but the kids played hard until the end."
Hawaii lost two games at BYU and two at Fresno State by a total of 10 runs. Some fielding blunders and mental mistakes kept the trip from being more successful, but injuries and illness definitely played a part as well.
Neal Honma (hamstring), Darren Blakely (knee) and Robert Medeiros (back) made up an outfield of walking wounded in Saturday's heartbreaking 8-7 loss. Greg Millichap couldn't play because of a hand injury. Infielders Jamie Aloy (knee), Daren Masanda (elbow and knee) and Sean Murphy (knee) should have been in the dugout with him.
"We can't keep having all these injuries every year and expect to compete," Murakami said. "I don't know what it is; a run of bad luck, I guess. But over the last half of the season, we've shown people what we can do."
Hawaii was one win away on Saturday of capturing its fifth consecutive series. The Rainbows' turnaround occurred with a sweep of UNLV in April. They also won a road series with San Diego State, a home series with San Jose State and a road series with Fresno State -- not counting the fourth game which was a makeup of a rainout in March.
The Rainbows had a chance to win a series at BYU's place for the first time in history thanks to an 18-11 victory in Thursday's opener. But two ninth-inning rallies in games Friday and Saturday came up a little short and killed Hawaii's playoff run.
Three of the six teams that qualified for the 1997 WAC tournament are from the West Division. In fact, the only team Hawaii
didn't play that qualified for the league tourney is South Division winner Rice.
"I hope next year we can expand the tournament to eight teams," Murakami said. "BYU is always going to get in under the current format because they play Grand Canyon and Air Force six times. Guys are finally seeing that we're in the toughest division and that should count for something.
"We've always had a difficult schedule," said Murakami, who also played five nationally ranked nonconference opponents -- Miami (Fla.), UCLA, Wichita State, Southern California and Cal State-Northridge.
"But as I've said, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. The thing is, not only did we have to play six games with the teams in our division that made the tournament, but three games with (North Division qualifiers) Utah and BYU. That's why I thought strength of schedule should have played a part in who made this year's postseason tournament."
1997 Rainbow Men’s Baseball
Schedule and Record
