Star-Bulletin Sports


Monday, April 26, 1999



By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Rice's Charles Williams slides safely into first base, just
ahead of the tag from UH's Kenn Wakakuwa.



Rice finishes
sweep of ’Bows

Hawaii fails to capitalize,
loses to the nation's No. 2
college baseball team

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

Tapa

Jamie Aloy deserved a better fate yesterday in his first mound assignment since April 1, but the Hawaii offense sputtered and sputtered.

The Rainbows paid dearly for not taking advantage of numerous opportunities against Rice starter Kenny Baugh, who managed to pitch out of trouble with the aid of excellent defensive support.

The No. 2-ranked Owls (43-8 overall, 21-3 WAC) completed the series sweep with a 2-0 victory at Rainbow Stadium, dropping UH (28-17, 8-13) to eighth place in the standings.

"Jamie pitched great, we played solid defense, but we didn't get any clutch hits. No one came through offensively," said UH's Michael Dartt.

Sean Takamori reached third base with one out in the first and Darin Baker got there with two outs in the third inning, but neither scored.

A two out, bases loaded situation in the fifth produced nothing when Rice first baseman Jacob Baker made a sprawling stop of Dartt's base hit bid. Baker got to his knees and rifled a throw to Baugh covering first in time for the final out.

Aloy reached on a bunt single in the sixth, took second on a wild pitch, but died at third as Baugh got three consecutive groundouts to end the inning.

Baugh wasn't as sharp as the Owls previous starting pitchers. He fell behind in the count often, but he had a knack for coming back.

"We had 3-1 fastballs and just didn't get them," Dartt said. "He used the slider on the first pitch or when he was ahead, but he used the fastball to get back into the count."

"I think he saved a little because, when he had to, he brought the hard stuff," said Takamori.

The Rainbows stranded nine runners. And, when Lane Nogawa beat out an infield single to start the ninth, Rice closer Jesse Kuntz-Nicholl came on to strike out the side.

Hawaii was held to 21 hits and just two for extra bases in the series. The Owls collected 36 hits, including 15 for extra bases.

Aloy allowed just three base runners through six innings. He had retired 11 consecutive Owls before Will Ford powered a pitch 390 feet over the right-field fence to open the seventh inning.

Ford's two-out single to center scored Charles Williams with the second run in the eighth.

"It wasn't just their pitching; it was their defense," said UH head coach Les Murakami. "They made some unbelievable plays.

"We had men in scoring position with our three and four batters up and couldn't score. To me, that's unusual. But this team isn't going to fold its tent and we're going to have some luck sometime."

Murakami used 14 pitchers in the three-game series and cited that as the one good thing to come out of the weekend.

"It wasn't out of necessity, but we wanted to see people we can rely on," Murakami said.

RICE 2, HAWAII 0

Rice		AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii		AB	R	H	BI
Williams lf	4	1	2	0	Takamori rf	3	0	2	0
Gray cf		4	0	0	0	Dartt 2b	3	0	0	0
Thames ss	4	0	0	0	Aloy p-dh	3	0	1	0
Ford rf		4	1	3	2	Martines lf	4	0	0	0
Smith 2b	4	0	1	0	Wakakuwa 1b-c	4	0	0	0
Berg dh		3	0	1	0	Nogawa 3b	4	0	1	0
Baker 1b	4	0	1	0	Hansen c-1b	4	0	1	0
Curry c		3	0	0	0	Miller ss	2	0	0	0
Fox 3b		4	0	0	0	Taguchi ph	1	0	0	0
						Baker cf	3	0	1	0
						Honma ph	1	0	0	0
	Totals	34	2	8	2			32	0	6	0


Rice	000 000 110--2 8 0
Hawaii	000 000 000--0 5 0
LOB--Rice 7, Hawaii 9.

2B--Williams (15), Berg (13), Baker (3). HR--Ford (7). SB--Ford (3), Takamori (28), Hansen (3). SH--Berg (4), Dartt (17).

		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Baugh (W,9-2)	8	6	0	0	3	6
Yamashita	1	0	0	0	0	3
Aloy (L,6-6)	8	8	2	2	0	4
Childers	1	0	0	0	1	1
Baugh pitched to one batter in the ninth.

WP--Baugh, Aloy.

Umpires--Bob Galbraith (plate), Gary Samuels (first), Gary Montalbo (third). A--2,885. T--2:33.

Tapa

WAC

		Conference			Overall
		W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L	Pct.
Rice		21	3	.875	--	43	8	.843
Texas Christian	17	6	.739	3-1/2	26	20	.565
Nevada-LV	13	8	.619	6-1/2	24	25	.490
San Jose St.	11	10	.524	8-1/2	21	22	.489
New Mexico	12	12	.500	9	25	23	.520
San Diego St.	10	11	.476	9-1/2	23	25	.479
Fresno St.	9	12	.429	10-1/2	27	26	.509
Hawaii		8	13	.381	11-1/2	28	17	.622
Brigham Young	7	13	.350	12	20	27	.426
Utah		6	13	.316	12-1/2	18	22	.450
Air Force	3	16	.158	15-1/2	17	28	.378
New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.

Yesterday's results

Rice 2, Hawaii 0

Fresno State 7, San Diego State 5

Nevada-Las Vegas 12, Texas Christian 6

New Mexico 16, Air Force 8

San Jose State 8, Utah 2



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