Friday, April 16, 1999
Snider at home
in UH rotation
After an early stint as the
By Al Chase
Rainbows' closer, the career starter
has returned to a role he is
accustomed to --
and excelled
Star-BulletinBeing in Hawaii's starting rotation is like returning home for Rich Snider and has nothing to do with Ada, Okla., his hometown.
A career starting pitcher, the 5-foot-10, 182-pounder was thrust into the Rainbows' closer role following fall practice.
The move was successful early in the season: Snider earned six saves, but, two things pitchers dread most, walks and gopher balls, crept into his performance.
At about the same time, starter Randon Ho was shelved indefinitely with an injury. Jamie Aloy and Troy Yoshimasu soon followed. The UH coaches needed starting pitchers. Snider was the first to get the opportunity.
"It's much better being in the starting rotation. I feel a lot more comfortable," Snider said.
UH head coach Les Murakami acknowledged it was a gamble to make Snider the closer, but UH pitching coach Carl Furutani listed the reasons for the move.
"When the coaches evaluated everybody after fall practice, he was the best candidate. He's a tough individual who went after people and threw strikes. We hadn't seen Wakon (Childers) much because he was playing more position than anything else," Furutani said.
The UH coaches were aware of Snider's history as a starter, so it was not a difficult decision to put him in a rotation that needed help.
"I had talked to his coach (Seminole State's Lloyd Simmons) and we knew Rich gets stronger as the game goes along," Furutani said.
"He can use all his pitches right from the start. He relies on his fastball, curve and change-up most and goes with the splitter in certain situations when he notices the batter is swinging at breaking pitches or pitches down."
Snider's fastball has topped out at 91 mph but usually reaches the batter between 86 and 88 mph.
Since returning to the rotation, Snider has won two and lost one. In 24° innings, he has allowed six earned runs, walked three and struck out 16. His earned run average in the three starts is 2.22. It was 4.84 as a closer.
The move also allows him to follow a set pattern each week.
"I throw pen three days before I start, then long toss the next day and then 90 foot toss," Snider said.
"I feel the more I throw, the better I am. The day after I start, I don't touch a ball, maybe the second day."
The Seattle Mariners drafted Snider in the 52nd round in 1996. He was recruited mostly by junior colleges in Oklahoma and ended up at Seminole State, 45 minutes from home. Hawaii never crossed his mind until Kenn Wakakuwa arrived at Seminole and played the 1998 season with Snider and Childers.
"I kind of put it their minds that I would be there and told them the truth about what it was like here," Wakakuwa said.
"It was kind of a brave move for them not knowing what it would be like."
Snider narrowed his choices to Hawaii and Oklahoma.
"It probably helped a lot to have a couple of teammates come down here," he said. "I was excited about coming to Hawaii. I've never been here."
And, yes, the beach became an instant attraction.
"When I first got here, I went about every day, but that kind of wore out. I burnt myself out on that," he said.
The Seattle scout has kept in touch, and it makes no difference to Snider, who is draft eligible, if it's this year or next year.
"I'd just like the chance."
The Rich Snider File
Record: 3-4
BASEBALL PLAYBOOK
HAWAII-HILO VULCANS
Season record: Overall 26-13, WAC 8-10, Home 23-7, Away 3-6 Hawaii Rainbows Statistics
Batting
Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI Bat TB Slug BB SO SB Sean Takamori 39 141 37 52 6 2 0 28 .369 62 .440 29 23 25 Scooter Martines 26 112 15 41 7 1 1 32 .366 53 .473 4 21 1 Lane Nogawa 20 66 15 24 2 1 0 15 .364 28 .424 7 14 0 Jamie Aloy 32 119 39 42 13 2 4 26 .353 71 .597 21 30 2 Kramer Aoki 6 6 2 2 0 1 0 1 .333 4 .667 1 1 0 Rory Pico 6 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 1 .333 2 1 0 James Polk 7 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .333 1 .333 0 1 0 Michael Dartt 34 129 28 42 7 3 0 23 .326 55 .426 17 16 10 Rah-Miel Mitchell 26 67 19 21 1 2 0 14 .313 26 .388 15 11 6 Tracy Nakano 35 105 18 32 8 1 3 32 .305 51 .486 25 13 0 Lars Hansen 34 102 22 31 5 3 1 17 .304 45 .441 6 17 2 Darin Baker 22 48 15 14 2 2 1 11 .292 23 .479 7 13 0 Lon Tanigawa 8 11 4 3 0 1 0 2 .273 5 .455 0 2 0 Kenn Wakakuwa 38 142 26 37 5 2 1 22 .261 49 .345 9 17 4 Corey Miller 29 90 19 23 2 0 3 10 .256 34 .378 14 16 3 Derek Honma 19 12 2 3 0 1 0 3 .250 5 .417 1 3 0 Wakon Childers 8 21 2 5 1 0 0 1 .238 6 .286 1 1 0 Matt Wheeler 31 98 18 23 2 2 0 9 .235 29 .296 11 24 0 Wade Taguchi 10 15 2 2 0 0 0 0 .133 2 .133 1 3 0 Jeremy Stegmaier 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 .000 0 3 0 Jason Castro 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 .000 0 0 0 Hawaii Totals 39 1,299 284 399 61 24 14 249 .307 550 .423 171 230 53 Opponent Totals 39 1,336 182 348 69 21 14 167 .260 501 .375 108 236 22Left on base: Hawaii 310. Opponents 282. Double Plays: Hawaii 37, Opponents 38. Triple Plays: Hawaii 1, Opponents 0.
Pitching
Player G GS CG W L Pct. IP H BB SO R ER ERA Chad Giannetti 3 0 0 0 0 .000 2.1 1 1 2 0 0 0.00 Michael Sakaino 1 0 0 0 0 .000 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 0.00 Matt Wheeler 1 0 0 0 0 .000 1.0 0 0 2 0 0 0.00 Randon Ho 9 9 0 4 2 .667 46.2 38 17 44 13 8 1.54 Patrick McNair 3 1 0 0 0 .000 5.0 4 4 4 2 1 1.80 Wakon Childers 13 0 0 2 0 1.000 14.0 16 3 15 5 3 1.93 Corey Miller 2 0 0 0 0 .000 3.0 2 1 3 1 1 3.00 Troy Yoshimasu 9 9 0 6 0 1.000 43.1 36 18 15 17 15 3.12 Rich Snider 21 3 1 3 4 .429 46.2 45 12 29 23 18 3.47 Gavin Garrick 12 0 0 0 0 .000 15.0 15 4 7 7 6 3.60 Ian Jones 21 1 0 2 0 1.000 34.2 35 13 17 19 15 3.89 Jamie Aloy 11 11 1 6 5 .545 70.1 73 9 51 38 31 3.97 Dusty Bergman 11 4 0 1 2 .333 31.1 32 13 24 23 17 4.88 Ken Mackenzie 12 0 0 2 0 1.000 12.2 22 2 8 14 7 4.97 Aaron Pribble 8 0 0 0 0 .000 7.0 13 1 6 6 6 7.71 Sean Yamashita 8 1 0 0 0 .000 13.0 12 10 9 12 12 8.31 Ikaika Baptista 2 0 0 0 0 .000 2.0 2 0 0 2 2 9.00 Hawaii Totals 39 2 26 13 .667 349.0 348 108 236 182 142 3.66 Opponent Totals 39 4 13 26 .333 331.0 399 171 230 284 218 5.93Saves (9): Snider 6, Childers 2, Miller 1. Opponents 6.
WAC standings
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 15 3 .833 -- 36 8 .818 Texas Christian 14 3 .824 -1/2 23 16 .590 Nevada-LV 9 6 .600 4-1/2 20 22 .476 San Jose St. 8 7 .533 5-1/2 18 18 .500 New Mexico 9 9 .500 6 22 20 .523 San Diego St. 8 9 .471 6-1/2 21 21 .500 Hawaii 8 10 .444 7 26 13 .667 Brigham Young 7 12 .368 8-1/2 19 24 .442 Utah 4 9 .308 8-1/2 16 18 .471 Fresno St. 4 11 .267 9-1/2 21 25 .457 Air Force 3 10 .231 9-1/2 17 22 .437New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.
San Diego State 8, Brigham Young 5 (1st)
San Diego State 19, Brigham Young 12 (2nd)
Hawaii-Hilo at Hawaii
Air Force at Texas Christian
Nevada-Las Vegas at Utah
New Mexico at Rice
San Diego State at Brigham Young
San Jose State at Fresno State
