Star-Bulletin Sports


Friday, April 20, 2001


[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]



UH


UH stuns No. 4 Rice


Star-Bulletin staff

HOUSTON >> Hawaii pitcher Jeff Coleman stuck to his game plan.

The two wild pitches Rice's Jon Skaggs unleashed were not part of his plan. Both played a major role in the University of Hawaii's first ever victory at Rice last night.

The Rainbows took the lead with a three-run fifth inning and went on to defeat the Rice Owls, ranked No. 4 by Baseball America, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at Reckling Park.

Coleman, a junior right-hander, found himself behind in the count several times early in the game, which contributed to Rice scoring single runs in the second and fourth innings.

"You have to find out what the umpire's strike zone is and adjust," Coleman said.

UH acting head coach Carl Furutani said, "the plate umpire had a high strike zone, one we haven't seen all year. I didn't think a lot of Jeff's walks (6) were walks, but he did a good job of staying with his plan."

Coleman simply wanted to get ahead of the batters. He did that by going right after the Owls and using a hard fastball on the inside of the plate.

"That makes the games a lot easier. I was pretty happy with the way I was throwing my change-up. It helped me set up my fastball on the inside to batters," Coleman said.

Over the final five innings, the Owls managed just one hit off Coleman, who improved his record to 5-5. Following a two-out walk in the seventh inning, he retired the last seven Owls in order.

The 'Bows fifth-inning rally started with two outs when Lane Nogawa singled to center. Arthur Guillen walked. Matt Purtell then dumped a single into center that A.J. Porfirio overran for an error. Rice right fielder Mike Lorsbach then threw the ball into the UH dugout to score Nogawa and Guillen and advance Purtell to third.

Skaggs' first pitch to Gregg Omori was wild, allowing Purtell to score the go-ahead run.

The all-important insurance run in the ninth had its beginning when Cortland Wilson reached first after striking out on a Skaggs wild pitch. Wilson stole second when Kevin Gilbride swung and missed on a hit-and-run pitch.

"I thought it was a pitch he should have handled," Furutani said. "I called time and told Kevin his focus wasn't there. If he dwelled on it, he would strike out. I just told him to refocus."

Gilbride singled to center on the next pitch, scoring Wilson.

The teams play again tonight with Sean Yamashita taking the mound for Hawaii.

Hawaii 4, Rice 2

Hawaii AB R H BI Rice AB R H BI
Guillen cf 3 1 1 0 Davis lf 3 0 0 0
Purtell ss 3 1 1 1 Porfirio cf 3 0 0 0
Omori dh 4 0 0 0 Arnold ss 2 0 0 0
Scalabrini 3b 4 0 0 0 Roman 1b 4 0 0 0
Kimura 1b 4 0 2 0 Brown 2b/3b 4 2 2 0
Wilson rf 4 1 1 0 Lorsbach rf 4 0 2 2
Montgomery rf 0 0 0 0 Cunningham dh 3 0 0 0
Gilbride lf 3 0 1 1 Ghutzman c 3 0 1 0
Jackson pr/lf 0 0 0 0 Bryan 3b 1 0 0 0
Bock c 4 0 0 0 Bormaster ph/2b 3 0 0 0
Nogawa 2b 3 1 1 0 Skaggs p 0 0 0 0
Coleman p 0 0 0 0

Totals 32 4 7 2 Totals 30 2 5 2

Hawaii 000 030 001 -- 4 7 0
Rice 010 100 000 -- 2 5 2

E--Porfirio, Lorsbach. DP--UH 1 (Purtell, Kimura, Nogawa), Rice 1 (Arnold, Roman, Bormaster). LOB--UH 4, Rice 7. 2B--Wilson, Brown, Lorsbach. SB--Wilson. CS--Lorsbach.

HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Coleman (W, 5-5) 9.0 5 2 2 6 4

RICE IP H R ER BB SO
Skaggs (L,8-1) 9.0 7 4 3 3 6

WP--Skaggs 2. Umpires--Dale Luker (plate), Bob Charmo (first), Randy Parker (third).

T--2:09. A--2425.



UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii



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