Thursday, March 5, 1998
UH sweep would be
grand for Murakami
Taking three from rival
By Paul Arnett
San Diego State would give the
coach 1,000 career wins
Star-BulletinEven normally stoic Les Murakami might have to laugh if he manages his 1,000th career victory this weekend against San Diego State head coach Jim Dietz.
Over the years, the two veteran baseball coaches have had almost as many arguments as combined victories (2,064). Just last year, Dietz left town in a huff after pitcher Ruben Aguilera's unusual motion resulted in a balk call by local umpires, prompting Dietz to say:
"He's pitched that way since he was in Little League. We even had our umpires, including (College World Series umpire) Dan Pedersen come in and look at him. They said what he does is unusual, but not illegal."
That is one of many reasons Murakami is the last guy Dietz wants to see reach the milestone, especially against him. Dietz reached the 1,000-win plateau a couple years ago, and Murakami can join him if the University of Hawaii sweeps the Aztecs in this weekend's three-game series.
"I don't expect to reach it this weekend because I don't think we've ever swept them in a series," said Murakami, forgetting a four-game broom job against San Diego State at Rainbow Stadium in 1987.
"I would be more pleased that we had three wins because these are conference games," he said. "After winning only one on the road last weekend at San Jose State, we need to come back and play well.
"Of course I'd be happy to win my 1,000th game. But you know me, it's not that big of a deal. If you hang around long enough and play enough games, anybody can win 1,000."
That might be, but only 17 other coaches in NCAA history have accomplished that feat. Arkansas' Norm DeBriyn was the last to do it, reaching the milestone earlier this season.
For Murakami to do it, his three-man pitching rotation is going to have to do a better job than it did in San Jose, Calif.
UH starters Randon Ho and Dusty Bergman did nothing to help their season ERAs. Ho yielded five runs in six innings in the Rainbows' 7-2 loss Friday to fall to 3-2.
Bergman struggled even more in Hawaii's 23-8 shellacking in the second game of the series. In one-plus innings of work, he gave up eight runs on seven hits. Like Ho, Bergman is 3-2 overall, but his league ERA is 72.00.
Fortunately, freshman Patrick McNair was up to the task in the series finale. Despite developing a blood blister on one of the fingers of his throwing hand, he lasted long enough to raise his record to 3-0 and lower his ERA to 1.46.
"He gets that blister in the second inning and doesn't tell us about it until later," Murakami said. "It already had popped when he told us it was bothering him. I asked him why he didn't tell us sooner and he said he had pitched through similar injuries before."
Had McNair not been injured, he would have started tomorrow night's opener. Instead, Murakami will go with the normal rotation of Ho, Bergman and McNair.
San Diego State will likely counter with former Hawaii pitcher Chad Wanders (2-1, 4.79), Jeremy Cook (1-2, 5.14) and Joe Garibaldi (0-1, 12.27), but that could change since the Aztecs are involved in a series with UH-Hilo this week.
Murakami will start Greg Millichap in left field for the second consecutive game. Last week, the junior returned to the lineup for the first time since injuring his ankle six weeks ago in the San Francisco series.
"Having him back should help us once he gets used to playing every day again," Murakami said. "One reason we're playing better this year than in the past is because we haven't had as many injuries."
Murakami said he doesn't plan any other changes in his starting lineup. The only questionable position is second base, where David Perreira or Shane Chan will start.
WAC baseball
What: Hawaii (17-5) vs. San Diego State (6-9)
Rainbow Men Baseball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
