Murakami: We'll be better next year

The Rainbows finished the season at 22-34

By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

At one time, the thought of Les Murakami ever being shown the door without him opening it first seemed as unlikely as legendary Alabama head football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant being wiped out by the Crimson Tide.

After all, the University of Hawaii head coach and local college baseball have been together so long, you find yourself asking the question, "Which came first?"

That puts UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida in an unenviable position. Just how do you walk over and tell the man that Rainbow Stadium will be named after some day that his services are no longer needed?

He won't have to if - as Murakami promises - the Rainbows stop a downward spiral that already has spanned five years. It's a guarantee Murakami is willing to stand by, no matter what.

"I feel strongly that we won't have another year like this one," Murakami said after the Rainbows put the finishing touches on a topsy-turvy 22-34 season, the first losing one in 23 years.

"We had so many darn guys hurt this year, even before the season started, it was hard to get anything going early on," the veteran coach said. "Once we got some guys back from injury and academic problems, we started to play better.

"The players coming back are going to have to fight for their jobs with the guys coming in. If we can keep some of our top recruits from going into the major-league draft, then we'll be better next year, no question."

Yoshida would like to believe that because for the first time in school history, actual attendance for the season dipped below 50,000. Only 49,096 fans attended 39 home games. That's an average of 1,259 fans in the house. There were no sellouts for the second consecutive year.

"If we start being competitive against the big schools, then the people will come back," Murakami said. Hawaii still managed to break the 100,000 barrier in tickets distributed for the 14th consecutive season, but playing in front of a near-empty stadium has become the norm in recent years.

"To be competitive, we need to improve our pitching," Murakami said. "And I think we will do that with the players we have coming back, who were hurt (namely freshmen pitchers Randall Benge and Sean Harvey). We also have some freshmen recruits and junior college guys coming in who should help us."

That's a good thing because the pitchers who helped the Rainbows the most in their 16-12 run over the second half of the season were seniors Andrew McNally and Daven Hermosura.

Remove top position player Robert Medeiros from the formula and it's not going to be that easy. He led the team in hitting (.398 average), home runs (nine), RBIs (55) and stolen bases (18).

"Our seniors definitely contributed to our turnaround," Murakami said. "But we still are a young team. We had two true freshmen (Jamie Aloy and Sean Murphy) start in our infield and one freshman pitcher (Dusty Bergman) in our starting rotation.

"The only two seniors who played regularly were Medeiros and (second baseman Daren) Masanda. So we have a strong nucleus coming back and some good young guys coming in."

At last night's UH baseball banquet, Murphy was named the top first-year player. He batted .276 for the season with six home runs and 47 RBIs.

As expected, Hermosura was named the most outstanding pitcher, while Medeiros pocketed most valuable player honors. Hermosura finished 6-4 for the season with an ERA of 5.78.

He was 5-1 over the second half of the season with an ERA of 4.41. For his efforts in the UH turnaround, his teammates named him the most inspirational player.

"After he got into pitching shape, we used him in the starting rotation," Murakami said. "He was always upbeat on the bench whether he was pitching or not, and I think that's what caught the players' attention."

As for Medeiros, he not only missed hitting .400 for the season, but was left off the All-Western Athletic Conference team as well.

He led the WAC in hitting with a .480 average, but because he played most of his games at catcher, he was listed at that position in the voting. The first team All-

WAC catcher was Fresno State's Giuseppe Chiaramonte, while second team honors went to Utah's Nate Forbush.

"His versatility worked against him," Murakami said. "But his play over the last three months helped turn things around."

Murakami said he will meet with Yoshida soon to discuss the season. It's unlikely Murakami will receive a rollover, meaning the 1998 campaign could be his last should UH continue to struggle.

"I don't plan on making any major changes with my coaching staff," Murakami said. "I know we won't have as many injuries as we had this year and that the players we have recruited should help us improve next season."