Friday, March 26, 1999

UH-Hilo upsets
Rainbows

The Vulcans stun previously
unbeaten UH, 5-4in Easter
Baseball Tournament

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

Ninety-two times Hawaii and Hawaii-Hilo have met on the baseball field, with big brother (the Rainbows) winning 80 of those encounters.

Granted, many of the players on the Rainbow Stadium carpet in last night's UHH's 5-4 win over the 'Bows weren't part of much of that history, but most were aware of it. As in any family feud, the little brother (the Vulcans) never ceases to relish that moment big brother takes an unexpected fall.

Sustaining motivation hasn't always been easy for the Vulcans this season. They have not won since Feb. 13th and had just five victories in 28 games before last night.

"Most of the kids dream about playing here. If they can't, they come to us or go to HPU. So it's no problem getting motivated," said UHH assistant coach Kallen Miyatake.

Kaholo Rickard hadn't won a game and Billy Rayl hadn't saved a game this season. That changed when UHH handed the Rainbows their first loss in the 24th Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament before 1,916 fans.

Rickard, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior right-hander, and Rayl, a 6-2, 180-pound right-hander, were especially stingy when the Rainbows had men in scoring position. With the score knotted at 2-2, Rickard surrendered one-out triples to Kenn Wakakuwa and Jamie Aloy in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. But neither of them scored.

In the seventh, Sean Takamori walked, Michael Dartt singled and Aloy moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt. But Rayl got Tracy Nakano to bounce back to the mound and Rah-Miel Mitchell to ground out.

Rayl, the Vulcans designated hitter, delivered a run-scoring triple to right-center field that broke the tie and later came home on a groundout in the seventh inning.

"It was a change-up outside. I just went with it, just threw my hands at the pitch. I don't guess on what pitch is coming, but I had fouled out on the same pitch the time before," Rayl said.

"They hit a couple of bad pitches I'd like to have back," said UH starter Dusty Bergman. "The change-up was there but it got too much plate."

After the Vulcans (6-23) added a run in the top of the eighth, Hawaii (19-11) made the score 5-4 in the bottom of the inning. But Rayl stranded runners at second and third when he got Jamie Aloy to ground out to first.

"I told the players before the game they can't expect to walk out on the field and win," UH head coach Les Murakami said.

"The Vulcans deserved to win this game because they played better and wanted it more. They pitched better and got timely hits."

"It felt good to get runners on base and into scoring position and get key hits," Vulcan head coach Joey Estrella said.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Kal Miyatake for calling the game and to (assistant coach) Jeff Hirai for setting the defense. I just tried not to get in their way."

"It's the kids. They are the ones who have to execute," Miyatake said.

Wakon Childers pitched a perfect ninth, the third consecutive game he has closed for the 'Bows.

Northwestern 13, Fresno State 10

Robert Dainton doubled home two runs in a five-run third and singled home two more in a four-run fourth to lead the Wildcats (6-9) past the Bulldogs (14-20).

Ryan Bos pitched 2° innings of scoreless relief after FSU rallied with two outs to cut its deficit to two runs, 12-10, with a five-run seventh.

Anthony Avecedo had three hits and Jeff Prieto three RBIs for the Bulldogs.

Nittaidai 5, Hawaii Pacific 3

Shigeo Amano singled home two runs in the seventh to put the Eagles ahead, 4-3, and Daigo Nakamura drove in an insurance run with a single.

The Sea Warriors (29-7) took a 3-0 lead after two innings, but left six runners on the base paths after that.

24th Annual Easter
baseball Tournament

Standings

Hawaii		3	1	.750
Nittaidai	3	1	.750
Hawaii Pacific	2	2	.500
Northwestern	2	2	.500
Fresno State	1	3	.250
Hawaii-Hilo	1	3	.250

Today's games
Nittaidai vs. Northwestern, 11 a.m.
Fresno State vs. Hawaii-Hilo, 2:30 p.m.
Hawaii Pacific vs. Hawaii, 6:37 p.m.

Nittaidai 5, Hawaii Pacific 3

Hawaii Pacific	AB	R	H	BI	Nittaidai	AB	R	H	BI
Roman cf	4	0	1	0	Takemura ss	5	1	2	1
Clutter 2b	4	1	0	0	Yamasaki 3b	4	1	1	1
Gerhardt dh	2	0	0	0	Amano rf	3	0	2	2
Sylvester 1b	1	0	0	0	Umezaki c	3	0	0	0
Yanagisawa c	4	0	3	1	Nakamura cf	4	0	2	0
Peters lf	3	0	1	0	Sasaki dh	4	0	0	0
Stith rf	2	1	0	0	Higashikawa 1b	3	1	1	0
Ka.McCllm1b/p	4	1	1	0	Nakatani lf	4	1	2	0
Lyons 3b	3	0	2	1	Maruhashi 2b	1	1	1	0
Anzai ph	1	0	0	0
Uegawachi ss	2	0	0	0
Kaulukukui ph	0	0	0	0
Bell pr	0	0	0	0
	Totals	30	3	8	2		Totals	31	5	11	5

Hawaii Pacific	120	000	000--3	8	1
Nittaidai	000	020	30X--5	11	1

E--Roman, Konishi. DP--NITT 1. LOB--HPU 8, NITT 8. 2B--Yanagisawa. SB--Stith. CS--Gerhardt, Peters, Amano 2. SH--Stith, Uegawachi, Maruhashi.

Hawaii Pacific	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Evans		4.1	6	2	2	3	1
Nunes (L)	2.1	5	3	3	0	2
Ka. McCallum	1.1	0	0	0	1	0

Nittaidai	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Konishi		4.1	5	3	3	4	4
Yokosuka (W)	3.2	3	0	0	0	1
Tonouchi	1.0	0	0	0	1	0

WP--Konishi 2, Yokosuka. HBP--Higashikawa (by Evans), Peters (by Yokosuka). Umpires--Jim LeBeau (plate), Keoki Torres (first), Gary Montalbo (third). A--238.

Hawaii-Hilo 5, Hawaii 4

Hawaii-Hilo	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii		AB	R	H	BI
Takahashi cf	4	1	1	0	Takamori rf	2	1	0	0
Chaves ss	3	0	0	0	Dartt 2b	4	0	1	1
Yap 2b		4	0	0	0	Aloy 1b		4	0	2	0
Wallis 3b	4	0	1	1	Nakano dh	5	0	1	1
Yates 1b	3	0	1	0	Mitchell cf	5	1	1	0
Johnson pr	0	1	0	0	Nogawa ss	4	1	2	1
Yee 1b		1	0	0	0	Wakakuwa 3b	4	1	1	0
Rayl dh/p	3	2	1	1	Hanson c	2	0	0	0
Lynch rf	3	1	1	0	Baker lf	3	0	1	1
Chu rf		1	0	0	0
McCracken c	4	0	1	2
Miura lf	3	0	0	0
	Totals	33	5	6	4		Totals	33	4	9	4

Hawaii-Hilo	020	000	210--5	6	0
Hawaii		011	000	020--4	9	2

E--Dartt, Wakakuwa. DP--UHH 1. LOB--UHH 3, UH 12. 2B--Aloy. 3B--Rayl, Aloy, Mitchell, Wakakuwa. SB--Takamori 2. SH--Chaves, Aloy. SF--Dartt.

Hawaii-Hilo	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Rickard (W 1-3)	6.0	7	2	2	3	1
Tanaka		1.1	1	2	2	1	1
Rayl (Sv, 1)	1.2	1	0	0	1	1

Hawaii		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Bergman (L 0-2)	7.0	4	4	3	1	5
Pribble		1.0	2	1	1	0	0
Childers	1.0	0	0	0	0	1

WP--Rickard. BK--Bergman. HBP--Hansen (by Rickard), Hansen (by Rickard), Wakakuwa (by Tanaka). Umpires--Guy Ogawa (plate), Gary Montalbo (first), Keoki Torres (third). A--1916.

Northwestern 13, Fresno State 10

Northwestern	005	401	201--13	12	1
Fresno State	301	100	500--10	14	1

Zach Schara, Dan Padgett (4), Ryan Bos (7) and Joe Hietpas, Nick Franzese; Casey Rowe, Shawn Hannah (4), Jake Field (4), Hans Smith (6). W--Padgett (3-1). L--Rowe (2-6).

Leading hitters--NU: J.P. Williamson 2-6, rs, RBI; Pat Thompson 0-3, 3 rs, 2 RBI; Nick Franzese 2-5, 2 rs, 2 RBI; Robert Dainton 3-5, 4 RBI; Kris Musselman 1-1, 4 bb, 3 rs, RBI. FSU: Tom Creighton 2-5, RBI; Anthony Acevedo 3-5, 3 rs; Brandon Gemoll 2-4, 2 rs, RBI; Jeff Prieto 1-4, rs, 3 RBI.