Monday, May 3, 1999

Rainbows control
their WAC
playoff destiny

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

The Hawaii Rainbows arrived in San Diego yesterday feeling more confident about their chances of qualifying for the Western Athletic Conference postseason baseball tournament.

Before the road trip, UH head coach Les Murakami figured the 'Bows had to finish with at least a 15-15 WAC record to extend their season. That meant going 7-2 in the remaining league games. After sweeping Utah, UH can attain that mark by winning four of its last six conference games.

The Rainbows also understand winning on the road does not get any easier with three upcoming games against long-time rival San Diego State.

"It looks like San Diego State is on a roll now. It's going to be a war. There's too much at stake," said Murakami.

The Aztecs have won seven of their last nine conference games, including a sweep of host Nevada-Las Vegas this past weekend. SDSU (13-11 WAC, 26-26 overall) and UNLV (13-11, 24-29) are tied for third place. The Aztecs hold the tiebreaker edge.

Hawaii (11-13, 31-17) moved into a tie for seventh place with Fresno State (11-13, 29-27) after the Bulldogs lost the final game of their series with Brigham Young.

UH holds the tiebreaker advantage over the Bulldogs

San Jose State (11-10, 21-24-1), which had its three-game series at Air Force canceled by rain, is fifth and New Mexico (12-12, 27-25-1) is sixth.

If the Rainbows were to sweep their final six WAC games, they would qualify for the tournament. The next best scenario would be to take 2-of-3 from SDSU and UNM to ensure the upper hand in a tiebreaker situation.

Three other important series this weekend involving the six teams battling for a tournament berth are: San Jose State at Texas Christian, UNLV at New Mexico and Fresno State at Utah.

Should that battle still rage on the final weekend of league play, the six teams that are now just two games apart will be matched against each other. The Rainbows host New Mexico, SDSU will be at San Jose State and UNLV plays at Fresno State.

Hawaii has a nonconference game against the University of San Diego Toreros tomorrow at noon.

INJURY UPDATE: Several 'Bows -- Lars Hansen (right knee), Kenn Wakakuwa (left knee), Tracy Nakano (right ankle), Jamie Aloy (sore left elbow) and Wakon Childers (bursitis in right elbow) -- are nursing injuries.

WAC

	                  Conference	      		Overall
Team			W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L	Pct.
xy-Rice			24	3	.889	--	47	9	.839
x-Texas Christian	17	9	.654	6	26	23	.531
San Diego St.		13	11	.542	9	26	26	.500
Nevada-Las Vegas	13	11	.542	9	24	29	.453
San Jose St.		11	10	.524	10	21	24	.478
New Mexico		12	12	.500	10	27	25	.519
Hawaii			11	13	.458	11	31	17	.646
Fresno St.		11	13	.458	11	29	27	.518
Brigham Young		8	15	.348	14	21	29	.420
Utah 			6	16	.273	15	18	25	.419
Air Force		3	16	.158	17	17	28	.378

x-Qualified for WAC tournament.

y-Clinched regular-season title.

New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.

Yesterday's results

New Mexico 17, Cal State Northridge 6

San Diego State 12, Nevada-Las Vegas 4

San Jose State at Air Force, canceled, rain

Tomorrow

Hawaii at San Diego