RAINBOW BASEBALL
Bulldogs take the fight out of Rainbows
The long flight from Louisiana had no impact on the hot bats the Louisiana Tech baseball team has been swinging the past two weeks.
The Bulldogs sprayed 13 hits around and out of Les Murakami Stadium last night to beat Hawaii 6-1 in the Western Athletic Conference opener for the teams before 1,110 fans.
The Hawaii (18-7) bats were just the opposite -- cool. The Rainbows were limited to five hits by two right-handers -- starter Luke Burnett and reliever Andrew Alsup.
"They were the better team tonight. They came out and played like they were a good ballclub. This game wasn't even close," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said.
"We just threw our gloves on the field. We played like what we read. We had no life, no passion. You can give credit to their pitcher, but we just didn't show up."
Steven Wright started for UH but was not as sharp as usual. He gave up a season-high 10 hits to the Bulldogs that included three doubles and a home run.
His pitch efficiency also was lower than normal. The junior right-hander went deep into the count, throwing five or more pitches to 13 of the 30 batters he faced.
"Steven just didn't have it," Trapasso said.
What the Hawaii coaches like is for the UH pitchers to get a batter to make contact and put the ball in play within three pitches.
LaTech (10-10) got on the scoreboard first and never trailed.
Albie Goulder lined a 3-2 pitch to right field to start the second inning for the Bulldogs. He moved to third, then scored the first run of the game on groundouts by Ryan Hamilton and Brian Rike.
LaTech increased its lead to 3-0 in the third.
Jericho Jones beat out an infield single behind second base, was sacrificed to second by Amos Ramon and took third on a balk by Wright. His next pitch, the first to Goulder, landed on the other side of the right-field wall for a two-run homer.
The 'Bows, who did not make anything happen when they got the leadoff batter aboard in the first and third innings, broke through with a run in the fifth.
Esteban Lopez led off with a line drive to left and hustled into second with a double. He advanced to third on Eli Christensen's grounder to short and came home on Robbie Wilder's two-out single to right.
Joe Spiers then walked and the runners moved up on a wild pitch, but Burnett retired Justin Frash on a grounder to second to end the rally.
The Bulldogs doubled their score to take a 6-1 lead in the seventh.
Brandon Hudson and Mims Boyce singled to left with one out. Wright retired Adam Cobb on a routine fly to left for the second out, but consecutive doubles to right-center field by Jones and Ramon gave LaTech a five-run lead.
"I probably should have taken Steven out with Jones up there, but you try to get one more out with your best pitcher," Trapasso said. "That was my mistake."
Jones, hitting .486 entering the game, was 3-for-5 last night with two runs batted in.
After Wilder's single in the fifth, the 'Bows did not get another hit. Only a walk to Frash in the eighth broke a run of 15 consecutive batters retired by LaTech pitching.
The series continues today with a 1:05 p.m. game. Left-hander Ian Harrington starts for UH.
Louisiana Tech 6, Hawaii 1
LaTech |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI
|
Cobb cf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Wilder lf |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1
|
Jones rf |
5 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
Spiers 2b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Ramon 2b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Frash 3b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Goulder 1b |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
Avila 1b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Hamilton 3b |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Inouye rf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Rike lf |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Sanchez dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
McCarthy ss |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Rimes ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Hudson dh |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Lopez c |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0
|
Grunewald pr |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Christensen ss |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Tabor ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
DuPree cf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Boyce c |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Totals |
38 |
6 |
13 |
6 |
Totals |
31 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
Louisiana Tech |
|
010 |
200 |
300 |
-- |
6 |
13 |
0
|
Hawaii |
|
|
|
000 |
010 |
000 |
-- |
1 |
5 |
0 |
LOB--LaTech 9; Hawaii 6. 2B--Jones 2; Ramon; Goulder; Lopez. HR--Goulder. SH--Ramon. SB--Rike; McCarthy. CS--Wilder.
Louisiana Tech |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO
|
Burnett (W, 2-2) |
5 1/3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4
|
Alsup (S, 2) |
3 2/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3
|
Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO
|
Wright (L, 4-2) |
6 2/3 |
10 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
5
|
Olsen |
1 1/3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2
|
Davis |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
WP--Burnett. BK--Wright.
Umpires--David Wiley (plate), Bill Speck (first), Darrel Mason (third).
T--2:48. A--1,110.