RAINBOW BASEBALL
Wright stops Leathernecks
Steven Wright pitched his and Hawaii's second complete game of the season to get the Rainbows off to a good start in their five-game, nonconference series with Western Illinois.
The junior right-hander struck out a career-high 13 batters in the 3-2 win over the Leathernecks in front of 1,137 fans last night at Les Murakami Stadium.
Hawaii (14-6 overall) scored all of its runs over the first two innings, then backed Wright with errorless defense when he wasn't adding to his strikeout total.
"Steven commanded his fastball very well. He established it on the inside first and that was key for him. Then he could go to the outer half and throw his off-speed pitches for strikes," said batterymate Esteban Lopez.
Wright threw 117 pitches. Ninety were fastballs and 67 of those were strikes.
"Steven threw first-pitch strikes to 24 of 33 batters," UH pitching coach Chad Konishi said. "What is more amazing is he went to three balls on just three batters."
Wright was more pleased with the complete game than the strikeouts.
"It was good to get the nine innings and give our bullpen a rest. They pitched a lot last week and we have five games this weekend," Wright said.
"I felt pretty good all night. I was loose and the ball was coming out of my hand good."
The Rainbows started quickly with two runs in the first inning.
Robbie Wilder was hit by a 2-1 pitch from WIU starter Wyatt Luebber and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Dupree.
Justin Frash grounded a double down the left-field line, scoring Wilder. Luis Avila lined the first pitch he saw to left-center field, scoring Frash.
The Leathernecks (2-10) put a run on the board in the second. Travis Check tripled into the right-field corner. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Johnson.
The 'Bows got the two-run differential back in the bottom of the inning. Joe Spiers and Wilder drew two-out walks and Spiers scored on Dupree's bouncer through the hole to left.
Nothing changed for four innings. Left-hander Quinn Leath replaced Luebber to start the third and settled things down for Western Illinois. He faced the minimum of 12 batters over the next four innings. Two Rainbows who did reach base were erased on double plays.
Wright had everything under control until the seventh, when the Leathernecks used their first two-hit inning to cut the UH lead to 3-2.
Check singled to left with one out, stole second and scored on Nick Simmons' two-out single to right.
Wright ended the inning by fanning pinch hitter Mike Triumph for this 11th strikeout, topping his single-game career high of 10 set against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 17.
The 'Bows blew a golden opportunity to add to their total in the bottom of the inning. Kris Sanchez walked and took third on Lopez's double down the left-field line with no outs.
Leath then fanned Spiers on a 2-2 slow curve before relinquishing mound duties to Aaron Madill.
Sanchez was tagged out by Johnson, the WIU catcher, when Wilder did not get the bunt down on an attempted suicide squeeze. Wilder then walked, but Dupree grounded out to end the threat.
"It was weird to play a game without the horrible conditions we had last week," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso.
"These guys (the Leathernecks) come here much better than advertised. They had some guys get some real good swings and their left-hander (Leath) did an outstanding job."
Hawaii will start left-handers Ian Harrington and Mark Rodrigues in today's twin bill that begins at 1 p.m.
Hawaii 3, Western Illinois 2
WIU |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI
|
Schmidgall ss |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Wilder lf |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Knapp cf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Dupree cf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
Newquist lb |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Frash 3b |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1
|
Pacyga dh |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Avila 1b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
Wadsworth lf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Inouye rf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Check rf |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
Hee 2b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Johnson c |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Sanchez dh |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Simmons 3b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Lopez c |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Kistner 2b |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Spiers ss |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Triumph ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Flanery 2b |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
31 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
Totals |
25 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
Western Illinois |
|
010 |
000 |
100 |
-- |
2 |
6 |
0
|
Hawaii |
|
|
|
210 |
000 |
00X |
-- |
3 |
6 |
0 |
DP--WIU 2. LOB--WIU 4, Hawaii 6. 2B--Newquist, Frash, Avila, Lopez. 3B--Check. SH--Dupree, Avila. SF--Johnson. SB--Check. CS--Sanchez.
Western Illinois |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO
|
Luebber (L, 0-2) |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1
|
Leath |
4 1/3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5
|
Madill |
1 2/3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO
|
Wright (W, 4-1) |
9 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
HBP--by Luebber (Wilder).
Umpires--Gary Montalbo (plate), Mike Evans (first), Jim LeBeau (third).
T--2:22. A--1,137.