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Saturday, February 19, 2000
Rainbow batters
By Al Chase
break out against Broncos
Star-BulletinMaybe what the Hawaii hitters did in the first three innings of last night's 9-5 win over Santa Clara will become contagious.
The Rainbows collected 10 of their 14 hits to build a 9-2 lead after three innings, a cushion Jamie Aloy was glad to have in his second start of the season.
The senior left-hander gave up a two-run, inside-the-park home run to Jack Headley in the second inning, then seemed to be in command until the eight inning.
From the third through the seventh innings, Aloy retired 15 of 17 Broncos, including 10 consecutively at one point.
"Honestly, I was kind of struggling, but I dug down deep and finally was able to keep the ball down," Aloy said.
Aloy struck out eight and didn't walk anyone, but when he went past the 100-pitch mark in the eighth inning his ball came up.
"I kind of hit the wall. It wasn't the best outing. I felt so-so in the bullpen, a little tight. I thought it would work out, but it kind of lingered," Aloy said.
"You could tell by his body language he was getting tired," said UH catcher Brian Bock.
Sophomore right-hander Sean Yamashita closed out the game, but not before leaving a pitch up to Chris Jakubauskas, who singled home Santa Clara's final run.
The victory before 917 fans at Rainbow Stadium was just the second in the last eight games for UH (4-9) and extended the Broncos' losing streak to five.
Every UH starter had at least one hit except Sean Takamori, playing just his fourth game since becoming eligible.
"The timing is still off a little," Takamori said.
"He'll get it. That's why we have to keep playing him," Hawaii head coach Les Murakami said.
Derek Honma hit safely his first three times up, all from the right side, his natural side.
"They were pretty much all fastballs," Homna said of the pitches he drilled for a single, single and double.
"I feel a lot more comfortable this year. Last year I was really pressing. This year my mental approach is to be relaxed, see ball, hit ball, try to keep it simple."
Danny Kimura produced his fourth consecutive multi-hit game with a pair of RBI singles.
Patrick Scalabrini broke a 0-for-9 slump at the plate with a run-scoring, bloop single to center field in the first inning.
He blooped another single to the same spot in the eighth. Neither hit resembled the line drives the UH coaches remember Scalabrini hitting to all fields in fall practice, but sometimes a batter needs a blooper or two to fall in to get untracked.
Scooter Martines also had two hits after having a 10-game hitting streak dating back to last season stopped last Sunday. One of his hits was a ringing, line drive double into the left-field corner that scored two in a five-run second inning.
The UH bats quieted down after Santa Clara starter Joe Diefenderfer left the game.
"It was nice to get a big lead for a change, but we kind of fizzled out," Murakami said.
"Our kids couldn't adjust to the 'thumbers.' "
Diefenderfer threw mostly fastballs, but the four SC relievers relied more on the breaking pitch. And Santa Clara (2-7) head coach Mike Cummins did not allow any of his relievers to pitch to a UH batter twice.
"He was smart not to leave them in long," Murakami said.
The three-game series continues at 3 p.m. today.
Left-hander Randon Ho (2-2) will start for the 'Bows, who will try to win two consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 27-28.
Rainbows 9, Broncos 5
Santa Clara ab r h bi Hawaii ab r h b1 Miller dh 4 1 1 0 Takamori cf 4 1 0 1 Wheeler cf 5 0 1 0 Jackson cf 1 0 0 0 Queen 1b 4 0 1 0 Homna rf 4 2 3 1 Gomes lf 4 1 1 0 Baker rf 1 0 1 0 Hinton 1b 3 2 1 1 Martines dh 5 1 2 2 Headley 2b 4 1 2 3 Kimura 3b 4 2 2 2 Jakubauskas rf 4 0 2 1 Purtell 2b 0 0 0 0 Hayes c 3 0 1 0 Wakaku 2b-1b 4 1 1 0 Balestreri ss 4 0 0 0 Saclbrn 1b-3b 4 0 2 1 Chan lf 3 1 1 0 Gilbride lf 1 0 0 0 Bock c 3 0 1 0 Nogawa ss 3 1 1 0 Totals 35 5 10 5 Totals 37 9 14 7
Santa Clara020 000 030 - 5 102 Hawaii252 000 000 - 9 140 E-Queen (3), Hayes (1).
DP-SC 1 (Wheeler-Hinton). LOB-SC 6, UH 6.
2B-Miller (2), Homna (2), Martines (1), Chan (3). HR-Headley (1). SB-Takamori (5). CS-Miller (1). S-Hayes (2), Nogawa (1).
ip h r er bb so Santa Clara Diefenderfer (L, 1-2) 2 10 9 7 1 1 DeMartini 2 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 Battagin 1 1 0 0 0 0 Sparr 1 1 0 0 0 1 Detrick 1 1 0 0 0 1 Hawaii Aloy (W, 1-1) 7 9 5 5 0 8 Yamashita 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 2 WP-Diefenderfer 2 (3), Battagin (2). Balk-Aloy(1). HBP-Miller and Hinton (by Aloy).
Umpires-Torres (plate), Greman (first), Montalbo (third).
T-2:29. A-917.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
