Rainbows out of WAC
race after loss to Rice

The Owls take their final conference
series vs. Hawaii

The Hawaii Rainbows and Rice Owls pounded away on each other for 3 hours, 29 minutes in 90-plus degree heat at Reckling Park yesterday in Houston.

Rice 14 Hawaii 11 Next Up at LaTech, Friday

The Owls were trying to methodically move toward their ninth consecutive Western Athletic Conference baseball championship. The 'Bows were hoping to keep their micro-slim hopes alive for a title shot.

In the end, Rice had a little more effective pitching left in the series finale and held off UH 14-11 in the highest scoring game between the teams in 42 meetings, 32 of them Owl victories.

The Owls, who will compete in Conference USA next year, eliminated the Rainbows (26-27, 13-14 WAC) from the first-place race. Rice has a two-game lead over second place Fresno State with three games remaining.

"We knew we had no pitching left going into the game. Ricky (Bauer) and Colby (Summer) have been struggling and Guy (McDowell) and Dean (Turner) haven't pitched well," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.

"I can't remember when Ricky has pitched an inning and not given up a run. If we had been strong on the mound this weekend, we would have swept.

"We were facing their No. 1 pitcher (Joe Savery), but our guys didn't care. They went out and battled and knocked their best guy out of the game."

Savery, a freshman left-hander who entered the game with a 1.97 ERA, left with a 2.50 ERA after surrendering seven earned runs to UH. It wasn't enough for the Rainbows.

The 'Bows took a 1-0 lead in the first on Esteban Lopez's RBI single, but Rice tied it in the bottom of the inning. The Owls, who scored in every inning but the third, went up 4-1 in the second, with Tyler Henley's two-run triple the big blow.

Down 5-1 in the fifth, Hawaii sent 10 men to the plate and scored six times for a 7-5 lead. The runs scored on sacrifice flies by Greg Kish and Lopez, a single to left by Isaac Omura and Matt Inouye's three-run, two-out double off the left-field wall. That ended Savery's stint on the mound.

Rice (38-17, 18-9) cut the UH lead to 7-6 in the fifth.

After Hawaii's Joe Spiers was hit by a pitch, took second on a balk, third on a grounder and scored on a wild pitch, the Owls poured four runs across the plate in the sixth for a 10-8 lead. Most of the damage was done by consecutive doubles off the bats of Danny Lehmann, Savery (now the designated hitter) and Lance Pendleton.

Hawaii answered and tied the score at 10-all in the seventh on Inouye's RBI double and Erik Ammon's run-scoring single to center.

Josh Rodriguez, 7-for-14 in the series, put Rice ahead for good in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to left. Greg Buchanan's two-run triple in the eighth made a Rainbow comeback in the ninth much too difficult.

"I couldn't be more proud of our team, period," said Trapasso. "This was a great game to watch. No one is going to stand toe-to-toe with them in their park and battle them, the heat and adversity the way our players did.

"This was an umpiring crew out of control, just looking for trouble. I don't know if we have a procedure to file a complaint, but I've got a telephone call in to find out."

Trapasso was ejected from Saturday's game after arguing a call on a tag at third base.

The 'Bows, tied for third place with San Jose State, will stay in Houston and relax until Wednesday, when they travel to Ruston, La., for the season-ending series against Louisiana Tech that opens Friday.

They have a practice scheduled for tomorrow morning, but it is tentative.

"We may need two days off after this weekend. We'll see how it goes and (how) hot it is," said Trapasso.

WAC standings

	Conference				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Rice	18	9	.667	--	38	17
Fresno State	16	11	.593	2	30	26
Hawaii	13	14	.481	5	26	27
San Jose State*	13	14	.481	5	28	25
Nevada	12	15	.444	6	23	27
Louisiana Tech	9	18	.333	9	17	37

* -- San Jose St. has one nonconference tie

Yesterday
Rice 14, Hawaii 11
San Jose State 7, Nevada 6
Fresno State 10, Louisiana Tech 8

Rice 14, Hawaii 11

Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI	Rice	AB	R	H	BI
Spiers ss	4	3	1	0	Henley cf	5	3	3 3
Kish lf	4	0	0	0	Buchanan 2b	5	2	3	3
Omura 2b	5	1	1	1	Rodriguez ss	4	2	3	3
Lopez dh	3	0	1	2	Rodgers 1b	4	1	2	1
Magana 3b	3	3	1	0	Friday pr	0	0	0	0
Roberts 1b	4	1	2	0	Dodson lf	1	0	0	0
Wilder pr	0	0	0	0	Hale lf/p	5	0	0	0
Inouye rf	5	1	3	5	Lehmann c	4	2	3	2
Ammon c	4	1	1	1	Savery p/1b	4	2	2	1
Dupree cf	4	1	1	1	Pendleton rf	4	1	1	1
					Reichenbch 3b	4	1	1	0
Totals	36	11	11	10	Totals	40	14	18	14
Hawaii		100	061	201	--	11	11	3
Rice		130	114	13x	--	14	18	2

E--Bauer (1), Spiers (20), Turner (1), Rodgers (8), Lehmann (3). DP--Hawaii 1, Rice 21. LOB--Hawaii 8, Rice 11. 2B--Roberts (9), Inouye 2 (13), Lehmann (15), Savery (17), Pendleton (11). 3B--Henley (2), Buchanan (3). HR--Rodriguez (9). SH--Rodriguez (9). SF--Kish (3), Lopez (2), Rodriguez (3), Rodgers (8). SB--Spiers 2 (31), Inouye (11), Ammon (2), Henely (11), Buchanan (5).

Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Bauer	2	4	4	3	1	0
McDowell	3 1/3	7	5	4	0	3
Summer (L, 2-6)	1	4	2	2	0	0
Turner	1 2/3	3	3	3	1	0
Rice	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Savery	4 2/3	8	7	7	3	5
Bell	1 2/3	2	3	3	0	2
St. Clair (W, 2-0)	2/3	0	0	0	0	1
Hale (S, 1)	2	1	1	1	2	2

WP--Bell (6). HBP--by Bauer (Pendleton), by McDowell (Buchanan, Reinchenbach, Henley), by Savery (Roberts), by Bell (Spiers, Magana). BK--Bell (1).
Umpires--John DeLuca (home), David Wiley (first), Bob Charmo (third), .
T--3:29. A--3,251.