Wednesday, November 5, 1997CaneFires close in
By Al Chase
on first place
Star-BulletinThe West Oahu CaneFires know the route to the Hawaii Winter Baseball championship game Dec. 12 at their home field, Hans L'Orange Park, goes through Outrigger Division rival Honolulu. In the opener of a three-game series at Rainbow Stadium yesterday, West Oahu beat the Sharks, 3-2, to move closer to first place.
The teams play at 6:55 tonight and tomorrow night at Rainbow Stadium and have a three-game series at Hans L'Orange Park next week starting Tuesday.
"We needed the 'W' to put us a half-game out," West Oahu winning pitcher Jayson Durocher said "There's only two teams in our division, so we have to play well against the Sharks at their park."
It was the first victory of the season for Durocher, a cousin of former major league player and manager, Leo "The Lip" Durocher.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Honolulu Shark Guiseppe Chiramonte slides home.
The West Oahu Durocher allowed one unearned run and three hits in five innings, but struggled a bit with walks after opening with two strong innings."He was spotting his fastball real well at the start," batterymate Mike Barrett said. "In the third and fourth innings he threw the pitches when he needed to."
According to Durocher, he was fortunate to get away with minimal damage in the third and fourth when he had control problems brought on by trying to be too fine with his pitches.
Despite rosters being a mixture of players from several organizations in this country and Japan, Barrett says there is no problem focusing on being first.
"We have quality players here and everyone is competitive," Barrett said. "Everyone looks at the stats and always looks at Honolulu. We haven't played them often yet, but we look forward to beating them. They're fun games and today's could have gone either way."
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Nelson Castro, left, and Brent Abernathy of the
Honolulu Sharks try to field a high bouncer hit by
West Oahu's Tadahito Higuchi yesterday.
The ball got by for a single.
West Oahu's Terrance Long started yesterday's game the same way he did the season opener Oct. 10, by drilling a Jason Grilli pitch to deep center for a triple. Long then scored on a wild pitch."He's a good hitter, but the more I face him, the more I learn how to pitch to him," said Grilli, who got Long on a grounder in the third.
The Sharks tied the score at 1-1 in the third inning on Norm Hutchins' RBI single to center.
In the fifth, Jim Chamblee drew the only walk off Grilli, promptly stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Chad Whitaker's single to center, putting the CaneFires ahead for good.
Brent Abernathy's two-out double in the bottom of the ninth gave the Sharks hope, but Paul Ah Yat came on to record the final out and earn his first save.
RAIN IN HILO: The game between the Maui Stingrays and Hilo Stars at Francis Wong Stadium was postponed by rain yesterday. A doubleheader is scheduled today.
Hawaii Winter Baseball
Outrigger Division
W L Pct. GB Honolulu 12 10 .545 -- West Oahu 12 11 .522 1/2
W L Pct. GB Maui 12 10 .545 -- Hilo 8 13 .381 3-1/2Maui vs. Hilo (2), 5 p.m., Francis Wong Stadium.
West Oahu vs. Honolulu, 6:55 p.m., Rainbow Stadium.
West Oahu Honolulu ab r h bi ab r h bi Long 1b 5 2 2 0 Hutchins cf 4 0 1 1 Fischer cf 4 0 2 0 Castro ss 4 0 0 0 Matsunaka dh 4 0 0 0 Fick dh 4 0 0 0 Barrett c 3 0 1 0 Minor 1b 4 1 3 0 Bates rf 4 0 1 0 Kapler rf 4 0 1 1 Chamblee 2b 2 1 0 1 Rivers lf 3 0 0 0 Whitaker lf 4 0 1 1 Villalobos 3b 3 0 0 0 Iguchi ss 4 0 2 0 Chiaramonte c 4 1 1 0 Erickson 3b 4 0 1 0 Abernathy 2b 3 0 1 0 Totals 34 3 10 2 Totals 33 2 7 2 West Oahu 100 011 000--3 Honolulu 001 001 000--2E--Chamblee. DP--Honolulu 2 (Grilli-Castro-Minor, Abernathy-Minor). LOB--West Oahu 7, Honolulu 8.2B--Minor 2, Kapler, Abernathy. 3B--Long. SB--Chamblee, Iguchi.
IP H R ER BB SO Durocher W, 1-0 3 8 7 7 2 2 Edward 3 4 0 0 0 3 Ah Yat S, 1 2 3 2 2 0 2 Grilli, L, 1-3 5 5 1 1 2 3 Chapman 3 2 2 2 2 0 Stentz 1 4 3 3 0 0Balk--Grilli 2. HBP--Barrett (by Chapman).T--2:49. A--1,881.
Hawaii Winter Baseball
1997 Roster & Schedule
