Monday, July 13, 1998
Movers finally get
By Al Chase
their bats in gear
Star-BulletinThe recent frustration fueled by offensive futility may have dissipated a bit when the Hawaii Island Movers rallied for four sixth-inning runs to win the second game of yesterday's Alaska Baseball League doubleheader at Rainbow Stadium.
Long Beach State right-hander Jeff Luenberger pitched a five-hitter in the opener to lead the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks (8-11) to a 5-0 victory.
San Jose State right-hander Brian Greene followed by holding the Movers (3-14) scoreless for the first five innings of the second game.
Through that point, the Movers had managed to score just five runs in 40 innings going back to their last three games in Alaska where eight of their 13 defeats were by one run.
The Movers emerged from their hitting shell in the sixth inning of the second game to score all four runs after two outs.
Kevin Okimoto (Santa Clara) ignited the comeback by bouncing a one-out single to right. He took second on a fielder's choice grounder and scored when Gregg Omori (San Francisco) lofted a one-strike pitch into the jet stream for a ground-rule double to right field.
Pinch-hitter Danny Kimura (Nebraska) then greeted Goldpanners reliever Aaron Heilman (Notre Dame) with a bouncing RBI single up the middle.
Pinch-hitter Scooter Martines (Texas Tech) walked on four consecutive pitches. Mike Waugh (St. Mary's) also used the strong wind to his advantage, cracking a 1-1 pitch for a two-run triple to right to provide the winning runs.
The beneficiary was Ian Jones, who has returned to his first love, being a starting pitcher.
Jones walked one, fanned three and allowed just three hits in his third compete game this summer.
"My goal was to learn how to pitch this summer and I'm starting to believe in myself again," said Jones, used primarily as a reliever during his freshman season at the University of Hawaii.
"I had problems getting the job done toward the end of the UH season. I knew I could do it, but it was frustrating because I wasn't. I went home for a month, relaxed, worked out and came back to start over again with a new team.
"I think we all missed home real bad. Alaska was boring and it took that first game to wake us up."
After surrendering two runs in the first on a bloop double that dropped between three converging Movers just inside the right-field line, Jones retired 19 of the last 20 Goldpanners.
Two Hawaii errors in the first inning and another in the second helped Alaska score its five runs in the opener.
"We were flat. It's exactly what happened in Alaska," Movers head coach Kallen Miyataki said. "But, we executed in the second game."
Right-hander Sean Yamashita, an incoming freshman at UH from Pearl City High School, will start for the Movers in today's 6 p.m. game at Rainbow Stadium.
Box Scores
Goldpanners 5, Movers 0
First game
Alaska Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Cervenak 3b 4 2 2 0 Jacobsen rf 3 0 2 0 Siemon dh 2 1 0 1 Yamaguchi ss 2 0 0 0 Lockhart cf 4 1 2 2 Okimoto 1b 3 0 1 0 Salter c 1 0 1 1 Sardinha c 2 0 0 0 Porzel lf 3 0 0 0 Kimura 3b 3 0 0 0 Circuit ss 3 0 1 1 Martines lf 3 0 0 0 Nettles rf 3 0 1 0 Omori 2b 3 0 2 0 Sperring 1b 2 0 0 0 Small dh 2 0 0 0 Correa 2b 3 1 0 0 Waugh ph 1 0 0 0 Okano cf 3 0 0 0 Totals 25 5 7 5 Totals 25 0 5 0 Alaska 320 000 0--5 Hawaii 000 000 0--0E--Correa 2, Okimoto, Sardinha, Yamaguchi.DP--Alaska 2 (Cervenak-Sperring, Circuit-Correa-Sperring). LOB--Alaska 4, Hawaii 6.
2B--Circuit. 3B--Lockhart. SB--Cervenak. SF--Salter, Siemon.
ip h r er bb so Leuenberger (W) 7 5 0 0 2 6 Williams (L) 4 5 5 2 1 3 Komine 3 2 0 0 1 2HBP--Salter (by Williams). T--1:53.
Second game
Alaska Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Cervenak 3b 3 0 0 0 Jacobsen rf 3 0 1 0 Hymes rf 2 0 0 0 Yamaguchi ss 3 0 0 0 Lockhart cf 3 1 1 0 Okimoto 1b 3 1 1 0 Salter dh 3 1 1 0 Sardinha 2b-c 3 0 0 0 Circuit ss 3 0 1 2 Omori 3b-2b 3 1 1 1 Porzel 2b 3 0 0 0 Small c 2 0 0 0 Kennedy c 3 0 0 0 Kimura ph-3b 1 1 1 1 Torres rf 2 0 0 0 Smith rf 2 0 0 0 Correa 2b 0 0 0 0 Martines ph-2b 0 1 0 0 Resco 1b 2 0 0 0 Waugh dh 3 0 2 2 Okano cf 3 0 1 0 Totals 24 2 3 2 Totals 26 4 7 4 Alaska 200 000 0--2 Hawaii 000 004 0--4E--Circuit, Jones.LOB--Alaska 2, Hawaii 5.
2B--Circuit, Omori. 3B--Waugh. SB--Jacobsen, Okano, Okimoto.
ip h r er bb so Greene 5-2/3 5 2 2 0 3 Heilman (L) 1/3 2 2 2 1 1WP--Greene. T--1:42. A--132.
