Monday, May 11, 1998
’Bows fail
to cash in
With a WAC baseball playoff
By Al Chase
berth on the line, UH falls short
against San Jose State
Star-BulletinThe little things a team must do to win big games eluded the University of Hawaii baseball team yesterday.
One less walk, one less wild pitch, a tighter defense or a timely hit or two and the Rainbows could have started packing for this week's Western Athletic Conference playoffs.
That's right. The Rainbows could have captured the final WAC Tournament berth with a victory in yesterday's season finale.
Instead, San Jose State plays New Mexico today in a makeup game. The winner gets the final playoff spot.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Darren Blakely, right, stumbles after fouling off a
pitch while San Jose State catcher Mike Wright looks on.
San Jose State (31-22 overall, 13-16 WAC) took advantage of several small but costly Rainbow lapses and got excellent relief pitching from Brian Greene to beat the Rainbows, 5-2, before 1,361 fans at Rainbow Stadium.The Rainbows finished the season with a 34-22 record, the reverse of last-season's mark. They were last in the WAC West at 12-18, marking the fourth time in the last five seasons they have finished in the cellar.
"It's amazing we even had the chance to go to the playoffs," UH head coach Les Murakami said.
"Everything fell into place. It's just that we didn't win."
Twice in the first four innings the Rainbows had a runner on third base with one out and couldn't score. In the sixth inning they loaded the bases with two outs and came up empty. In the ninth they had runners at first and second with one out and were shut down.
Junior outfielder Darren Blakely was chosen to the all-Western Athletic Conference second team today. Blakely named to all-WAC team
Blakely hit .329 and led Hawaii in home runs (7), slugging (.527), total bases (109), stolen bases (33) and runs (63).
Rice shortstop Damon Thames was the player of the year. Rice's Wayne Graham was coach of the year.
A timely hit in any of those situations could have changed the complexion of the game.
Despite a heart-breaking loss Friday and a blowout defeat Saturday, the Spartans did the right things yesterday to keep their playoff hopes alive.
They turned walks off UH starter Dusty Bergman in the first and fourth innings into runs with a little help from the 'Bows. In the first, a wild pitch by Bergman allowed Brian Forman to reach second base. He scored on Casey Cheshire's two-out single.
Center fielder Darren Blakely, after a long run, made a diving attempt to rob Cheshire of a hit, but failed to hold on to the ball when he hit the artificial turf.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
UH's Brandon Martin squares off with
Kyle Richardson after a play at first base.
In the fourth inning, UH third baseman Matt Wheeler bobbled Joe Chutuk's sharp grounder. Wheeler had to settle for an out at first base instead of a possible double play. Kyle Richardson moved to second on the play and then scored on Joe Lauderdale's single to center.A one-out double by Todd Duncan, a hit batter and a walk finished Bergman.
SJSU then scored on a wild pitch by UH reliever Gavin Garrick, and Tony James knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly, giving SJSU a 4-0 lead.
Garrick went on to pitch three strong innings in his longest outing of the season. He allowed three hits, no walks and struck out four in 323 innings.
"I didn't quite get the job done," the freshman right-hander said.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Rainbow infielder Michael Dartt nabs San Jose State
baserunner Jon Launderdale with a force out at second base.
"To me, the bright spot today was Gavin Garrick," Murakami said. "But we just didn't play as well defensively as we had to in a game like this."Two-out singles by Neal Honma and Blakely in the fifth inning accounted for the Hawaii runs.
Greene, a right-hander, relieved SJSU starter Joey Baker in the sixth and fanned Honma with the bases loaded to end Hawaii's last serious threat. Greene struck out six in 313 innings to earn his third save of the season.
Box Score
Spartans 5, Rainbows 2
San Jose State Fresno State ab r h bi ab r h bi Lewis cf 4 1 1 0 Dartt ss 3 0 0 0 Forman ss 3 1 1 0 Honma rf 3 1 1 1 James 2b 3 0 1 2 Aloy 1b 4 0 1 0 Cheshier dh-3b 5 0 2 1 Blakely cf 4 0 2 1 Richardson 1b 3 1 0 0 Nakano dh 4 0 0 0 Chutuk 3b 4 0 0 0 Konishi ph 1 0 0 0 Lauderdale lf 4 0 2 1 Martin lf 4 0 1 0 Wright c 3 0 0 0 Wheeler 3b 4 0 0 0 Duncan rf 3 2 1 0 Aoki c 4 0 2 0 Chan 2b 4 1 2 0 Totals 32 5 8 4 Totals 35 2 9 2 San Jose State 100 120 001--5 Hawaii 000 020 000--2E--Dartt (22).LOB--SJSU 8, UH 12.
2B--Duncan (6), Blakely (10), Chan (2). SB--Forman (24). SH--Honma (6). SF--James 2 (4).
IP H R ER BB SO Jo. Baker (W, 6-2) 5-2/3 7 2 2 3 2 Greene (S, 3) 3-1/3 2 0 0 1 6 Bergman (L, 4-5) 4-1/3 4 4 4 3 3 Garrick 3-2/3 3 0 0 0 4 Baptista 0 0 1 1 1 0 Yoshimasu 1 1 0 0 0 0Baptista pitched to two batters in the ninth.WP--Jo. Baker (4), Bergman (13), Garrick (4), Baptista (9). HBP--Blakely (by Jo. Baker), Lewis (by Bergman), Wright (by Baptista).
Umpires--Rodriguez (plate), Pedersen (first), Ogawa (third).
T--3:12. A--1,361.
WAC
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. x-Fresno St. 19 11 .633 30 26 .535 y-S. Diego St. 18 12 .600 1 31 23 .574 San Jose St. 13 16 .448 51/2 31 22 .585 Hawaii 12 18 .400 7 34 22 .607
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. x-Gr. Canyon 16 14 .533 28 25 .528 Brig. Young 13 17 .433 3 29 24 .547 Utah 11 19 .367 5 23 31 .425 Air Force 7 23 .233 9 14 39 .264
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. x-Rice 26 4 .867 41 15 .732 y-TCU 18 11 .621 71/2 33 21 .611 Nev-Las Vegas 13 17 .433 13 31 24 .564 New Mexico 12 16 .429 13 24 29 .453x Clinched division title.y Clinched playoff berth.
San Jose State 5, Hawaii 2
New Mexico 16, Nevada-Las Vegas 8
Rice 7, Texas Christian 1 (1st)
Texas Christian 11, Rice 4 (2nd)
San Jose State at New Mexico
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
