Tuesday, May 12, 1998
Injuries held
back Rainbows
The UH baseball team
By Al Chase
had some early success but
couldn't sustain it
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii baseball season began with the expectation that the 1998 campaign would be an improvement over the previous season, the first one with a losing record since UH went to an all-collegiate schedule in 1975.
Those expectations rose when the Rainbows bolted from the starting gate with a 16-3 record prior to the start of Western Athletic Conference competition.
Preseason questions about the inexperienced pitching staff, one UH head coach Les Murakami said was probably a year away, seemed unfounded early on.
But that changed once the Rainbows began WAC play. They were 18-19 for the remainder of the season with six of the victories coming in the Easter Tournament.
Murakami expected Randon Ho to really be something and Dusty Bergman to be better.
"Randon's inability to throw strikes killed him. Of everybody we had, he had the best stuff," Murakami said.
"Dusty was a two-pitch pitcher -- fastball and change-up. We worked with him on a breaking pitch. He finally was able to throw a breaking pitch in the last game."
Troy Yoshimasu, the No. 1 starter at one point, battled tendinitis, blisters, vertigo and a bruised thumb. He pitched well when healthy, but missed almost half his starts.
Patrick McNair won his first four games despite problems with his mechanics. However, he recorded just one victory after beating San Diego State March 8.
"If McNair had held up like he did in the start of the season, I think everybody would have gotten better," Murakami said. "Yet, for a freshman, he did amazing for being not in balance for awhile. I think that caught up with him."
Murakami had hoped another freshman, Gavin Garrick, would recover from a bout with tendinitis suffered in high school by the time WAC play started, but it didn't happen.
The bullpen by committee worked at times, but usually the relievers had success for just about an inning. And, it was often a toss-up as to which reliever would have success on a given night.
Out of necessity, Jamie Aloy moved into the starting rotation during the Easter Tournament, but the 'Bows lost his bat when he pitched. Murakami wants Aloy to do both next year.
Ian Jones, Ken Mackenzie and Ikaika Baptista, who switched to the mound last October, all had moments. Their continued development revolves around better understanding of how to pitch and throwing strikes consistently.
One obvious need is filling the role of closer. Murakami would like to think he has one, but top recruit C.C. Sabathia is also projected to be a first-round pick in next month's major-league draft.
"He'll get over a million and, if someone gives him that, he should take it," Murakami said.
Offensively, the Rainbows came close to the preseason expectations. There was disappointment when left fielder Greg Millichap never fully recovered from foot surgery the second week of the season, nor did he regain his form at the plate.
Fortunately, the play of Brandon Martin and Joe Whitsett helped make up the difference, but they are leaving the program.
The other preseason concern was the defense up the middle.
The plan was to redshirt freshman catcher Kramer Aoki and freshman infielder Shane Chan.
However, Lars Hansen, who opened the season behind the plate, struggled offensively after a fast start, then hurt his back. There was no choice but to activate Aoki.
Murakami wanted to play Rory Pico at shortstop and Michael Dartt at second base (his natural position according to Murakami).
But, Pico suffered a pulled groin muscle before the opening game and never fully recovered. David Perreira started at second, but didn't have the range the UH coaches wanted at that position.
Again, there was no choice and Chan's redshirt year was gone.
Murakami praised his players for playing hard right to the bitter end Sunday.
"Overall, you gotta say the season (34-22) was not that bad except for the injuries. They happened at the wrong time," he said.
"I don't feel we had a junk team. I honestly felt we had a good team to start the season."
Six pitchers (four left-handers, two right-handers) and two outfielders are signed for 1999. Another outfielder and a "big time" shortstop remain on the shopping list according to Murakami.
Darren Blakely, Jamie Aloy, Neal Honma and Lars Hansen were honored with the top awards at the University of Hawaii baseball banquet last night. Blakely given two awards
Blakely was named the most outstanding player after hitting .329 overall and .361 in the Western Athletic Conference. He topped the Rainbows in stolen bases (33), runs (63) and total bases (109).
Blakely also was named the Best Defensive Player.
Aloy was named the outstanding pitcher after going 4-0 and compiling a 3.34 earned run average.
In a vote by team members, Honma was selected the Most Inspirational Player. He missed just three games while playing with a chronic back problem. He hit .357 and led the team in hits (74), triples (5) and was second in total bases (100), stolen bases (18) and RBIs (44).
Honma also was selected the Best Executor.
Hansen was named the Scholar-Athlete. He has a grade point average of 3.78.
Matt Wheeler was named Most Outstanding First Year Player and led UH with 45 RBIs.
Junior varsity catcher Chad Dorman received the GTE Hawaiian Tel "Beyond the Call" award.
--By Al Chase, Star-Bulletin Season record: Overall 34-22; WAC: 12-18 Hawaii Rainbows statistics
Batting
Bat. Slug. Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI Avg. TB Pct. BB SO SB Joe Whitsett 35 88 20 34 5 0 0 15 .386 39 .443 8 20 2 Jamie Aloy 51 180 51 66 12 5 0 43 .367 88 .489 41 34 2 Brandon Martin 42 81 25 29 3 2 2 19 .358 42 .519 24 25 8 Neal Honma 53 207 50 74 10 5 2 44 .357 100 .483 27 24 18 Darren Blakely 56 207 63 68 10 5 7 41 .329 109 .527 27 45 33 Michael Dartt 56 208 51 65 4 4 0 22 .313 77 .370 27 31 15 Shaheed Nelloms 11 26 7 8 2 0 0 11 .308 10 .385 2 5 1 Matt Wheeler 56 209 31 62 9 2 0 45 .297 75 .359 24 39 1 Rory Pico 21 44 5 13 1 0 0 8 .295 14 .318 8 13 1 Tracy Nakano 46 103 26 30 2 1 0 22 .291 34 .330 43 13 0 Shane Chan 35 83 9 22 2 0 0 11 .265 24 .289 2 20 0 Kelly Konishi 33 52 12 13 2 0 1 12 .250 18 .346 4 17 1 Greg Millichap 36 117 29 29 9 2 5 27 .248 57 .487 34 28 1 Lars Hansen 34 102 25 25 6 3 2 26 .245 43 .422 21 22 1 Kramer Aoki 22 60 7 14 2 0 2 14 .233 22 .367 7 16 0 David Perreira 39 83 15 19 3 0 0 13 .229 22 .265 9 19 1 Sean Takamori 24 32 6 7 1 0 0 4 .219 8 .250 1 4 0 Jeremy Stegmaier 19 26 4 5 1 1 0 5 .192 8 .308 3 7 0 Sean Murphy 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 .000 0 1 0 Kamuela Binkie 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 .000 0 0 0 Troy Yoshimasu 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 .000 0 0 0 Hawaii Totals 56 1,911 437 583 84 30 21 383 .305 790 .413 312 383 85 Opponent Totals 56 1,952 378 605 115 17 25 327 .310 829 .425 250 294 41
Player G GS CG W L Pct. IP H BB SO R ER ERA Jamie Aloy 12 7 3 4 0 1.000 59-1/3 61 15 43 26 22 3.34 Ken Mackenzie 22 1 0 1 2 .333 43-2/3 56 10 26 26 20 4.12 Patrick McNair 14 12 2 5 3 .625 69 72 50 44 47 34 4.43 Troy Yoshimasu 11 9 0 2 2 .500 53 70 21 22 34 28 4.75 Randon Ho 21 13 0 5 6 .455 74-1/3 86 56 55 61 46 5.57 Nathaniel Watterson 10 0 0 0 0 .000 13-2/3 17 8 9 12 9 5.93 Ian Jones 27 1 0 3 2 .600 34-2/3 44 20 23 33 24 6.23 Ikaika Baptista 23 0 0 2 1 .667 23 28 17 17 17 16 6.26 Dusty Bergman 13 11 2 4 4 .500 63 82 28 29 57 48 6.86 Kamuela Binkie 21 2 0 6 1 .857 35-1/3 59 17 13 36 27 6.88 Gavin Garrick 13 0 0 0 0 .000 18-2/3 24 6 11 19 15 7.23 Michael Sakaino 3 0 0 0 0 .000 3-1/3 6 2 2 10 3 8.10 Hawaii Totals 56 7 34 22 .607 491 605 250 294 378 292 5.35 Opponent Totals 56 7 22 34 .393 473 583 312 383 437 351 6.68NOTE: Numbers underlined indicate team leader or tied for team lead.
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