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Thursday, March 16, 2000

Wakakuwa homers as
Rainbows roll

RealAudio: 'Net broadcast Click Here

RAINBOW BASEBALL NOTEBOOK

From staff and wire reports

STOCKTON, Calif. - Les Murakami expected to pitch by committee. What the University of Hawaii baseball coach didn't expect was for his team to hit by committee as well.

Fifteen different Rainbows went to the plate yesterday, combining for 16 hits in a 13-1 nonconference win over Cal State Sacramento. The game was played at the University of the Pacific's Hebert Field.

"We wanted to get a game in before we played at Fresno State,'' said Murakami, whose team opens a critical WAC series against the Bulldogs tomorrow. "I think it helped us having a game instead of just a practice. We got used to playing on grass.

"The weather was excellent and it was good to get outside and play. You know it's good weather when I don't wear a jacket.''

Leading 3-1, the Rainbows (14-11) broke open a close game with an eight-run seventh inning. Highlighting the outburst was Kenn Wakakuwa's first home run of the season, a three-run line-drive that cleared the left-field fence against the wind.

"Our players were pretty loose today,'' said Murakami. "Most of our pitchers pitched well and we hit well against their bullpen.''

Murakami used 21 of his 25 roster players. The four that didn't get into the game are pitchers he'll use against the Bulldogs.

Scooter Martines and Danny Kimura both drove in two runs for Hawaii. Seven Rainbow pitchers combined to hold the Hornets (6-12) to four hits.

Rainbows 13, Hornets 1

HAWAII	AB	R	H	BI	SAC. ST.	AB	R	H	BI
Takamori rf	3	1	2	0	Krebs ss	3	0	0	0
Jackson rf	0	0	0	0	Butler 3b	3	0	0	0
Baker cf	2	3	0	1	Williams 2b	1	0	0	0
Martines lf	4	1	3	2	Gonzalez dh/lf	3	1	0	0
Nogawa pr/ss	1	1	0	0	Bender lf	1	0	0	0
Kimura dh	4	1	3	2	McFarland cf	3	0	1	0
Chan dh	1	0	0	0	Carson cf	1	0	0	0
Wakakuwa 2b	4	1	1	3	Morales 2b/3b	3	0	1	1
Purtell 2b	1	0	0	0	Sharp ph	1	0	0	0
Aloy 1b	4	1	2	0	Brown dh	3	0	0	0
Aoki ph/c	1	0	0	0	Cuckovich ph	1	0	0	0
Scalabrini 3b	5	1	2	0	Lusk c	3	0	0	0
Bock c/1b	5	1	1	0	Proud ph	1	0	1	0
Pico ss	2	0	0	0	Maghan 1b	3	0	1	0
Mitchell ph/lf	2	2	2	1	Clark rf	1	0	0	0
Giannetti p	0	0	0	0	West p	0	0	0	0
Jones p	0	0	0	0	Nielsen p	0	0	0	0
Olivera p	0	0	0	0	Robinson p	0	0	0	0
Lee p	0	0	0	0	Harris p	0	0	0	0
Pribble p	0	0	0	0	Penbera p	0	0	0	0
Sato p	0	0	0	0	Yamashita p	0	0	0	0
Totals	39	13	16	9	Totals	31	1	4	1

Hawaii	100	002	820 -	13	16	1
Sacramento St.	000	100	000 -	1	4	2

E-Wakakuwa, Lusk, Clark. DP-Hornets 3. LOB-Rainbows 4, Hornets 7. 2B-Aloy (8), Proud (1). HR-Wakakuwa (1). SB-Takamori, Baker, Mitchell. CS-Takamori, Maghan. SF-Baker.

Hawaii

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Giannetti	3	0	0	0	0	2
Jones	1	2	1	0	0	2
Olivera (W, 1-0)	1	0	0	0	3	0
Lee	1	0	0	0	0	0
Pribble	1	1	0	0	1	0
Sato	1	0	0	0	0	1
Yamashita	1	1	0	0	0	0

Sacramento St.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
West	5	4	1	1	1	2
Nielson (L, 0-3)	1-1/3	6	6	6	0	1
Robinson	2/3	3	4	4	1	1
Harris	1	2	2	1	1	1
Penbera	1	1	0	0	0	1

WP-Nielson, Harris. PB-Lusk. HBP-Takamori (by Nielson).

Umpires-Cervantes (plate), Pabella (first).

WAC STANDINGS

	Conference			Overall
Team	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
Fresno State	5	1	.833	19	5	.792
Hawaii	5	1	.833	14	11	.560
San Jose State	3	3	.500	14	7	.667
Rice	4	5	.444	10	13	.435
Texas Christian	2	4	.333	7	17	.292
Hawaii-Hilo	2	7	.222	11	17	.393

Yesterday's result

Hawaii 13, Cal State Sacramento 1

Today's game

TCU at Hawaii-Hilo, 6 p.m., Wong Stadium

Tomorrow's games

Hawaii at Fresno State, 5 p.m. HST
TCU at Hawaii-Hilo, 6 p.m., Wong Stadium

Saturday's games

TCU at Hawaii-Hilo, noon, Kailua-Kona.
Hawaii at Fresno State, 5 p.m. HST

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RAINBOW BASEBALL PLAYBOOK

@ Fresno State Bulldogs

First pitch: Tomorrow and Saturday, 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m., Pete Beiden Field, Fresno, Calif.

Coaches: Hawaii, Les Murakami, 30th season (1,065-553-4, .658); Fresno State, Bob Bennett, 32nd season (1,209-690-2, .637).

Season: Hawaii (5-1 Western Athletic Conference, 14-11 overall); Fresno State (5-1, 19-5).

Series record: Fresno State leads the series, 34-25, and holds a 14-5 advantage in games played in Fresno. Last year, the Rainbows won two of the three WAC games and both meetings in the Rainbow Easter Tournament including a 5-3 win in the championship game.

Probable starting pitchers: Fresno State, Tom Graham, senior right-hander (3-2, 4.11); Beau Hintz, sophomore left-hander (3-1, 2.31), and Shawn Hannah, senior right-hander (4-2, 3.28) ... Hawaii, Jamie Aloy, senior left-hander (3-1, 3.97); Randon Ho, senior left-hander (3-3, 6.09), and Rich Snider, senior right-hander (4-3, 4.68).

Top position players: Fresno State, Brandon Gemoll, sophomore infielder (.381 batting average, 3 home runs, 25 runs batted in); Nick Garcia, junior infielder (.368, 16 RBIs); Josh Labandeira, junior infielder (.358, 19 RBIs), and Mike Bowlin, senior outfielder (.316, 17 RBIs) ... Hawaii, Kenn Wakakuwa, senior catcher/infielder (.375, 21 runs, 31 RBIs); Jamie Aloy, senior first baseman (.358, 14 runs, 6 RBIs); Scooter Martines, junior outfielder (.339, 13 RBIs); Danny Kimura, junior designated hitter (.315, 25 RBIs), and Patrick Scalabrini, junior third baseman (.314, 16 RBIs).

Interesting facts: The Bulldogs are ranked No. 18 in the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls this week ... Fresno State won its own Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic last Saturday by defeating No. 21 Creighton, 5-1 in 12 innings, in the championship game. FSU starter Tom Graham took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in that game ... The two ranked teams UH played early in the season, No. 18 Florida and No. 4 UCLA, have disappeared from both polls.

Series keys: This series is for early-season bragging rights. The winner takes sole possession of first place in the conference ... The Bulldogs have been off for six days. They will be refreshed after playing nine games in nine days prior to this break ... Murakami says the keys for the Rainbows are to get good pitching and play solid defense. "If we do that, we'll be all right," he said ... Murakami will stay with his plan of catching Kramer Aoki in the first game and Kenn Wakakuwa in the next two ... Pete Beiden Field is another facility where the ball carries. If the UH pitchers make a mistake, it had better not be up or the ball will be gone ... "It's a good ball park and the ball does fly, but it's just a matter of us staying with our game," said Scooter Martines.who made the all-WAC tournament team here last May.

On the air: All games live on KCCN radio (1420 AM).

RealAudio: Live 'Net broadcast Click Here

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By Al Chase, Star-Bulletin

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii