Sports Update
By Star-Bulletin Staff
Saturday, February 15, 1997
What he was thinking minutes after losing last night's opener of a three-game series with the University of Hawaii, only the veteran USC head baseball coach knows for sure.
But it's not difficult to imagine.
For some reason, the Trojans have had a hard time winning at Rainbow Stadium, especially the past few seasons.
USC is 6-10 in Honolulu since Gillespie took over the prestigious program in 1987. The Rainbows' 9-3 win last night is the seventh against the Trojans in their last eight meetings.
Maybe that's why Gillespie went off on home-plate umpire Frank Tomaszewski when a 2-2 pitch by ace Randy Flores to Neal Honma was ruled a shade inside.
Flores, who relies more on finesse than raw power, came back with a belt-high fastball that Honma hammered into the gap in left to continue an improbably two-out rally in the seventh.
Gillespie went to the mound to calm a rattled Flores, but on the way back to the dugout, he made a scheduled detour to home plate to inquire about Tomaszewski's strike zone.
It didn't take long for Gillespie to be tossed. If he had hoped it would spark his team, he was wrong. The Rainbows went on to score three runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth to help Robby Robinson claim an improbable win over the No. 2-ranked team in the nation.
They won their fourth straight OIA title by soundly beating underdog Waipahu, 52-36, before 1,305 fans at the Blaisdell Arena.
"Coach said not to let them hang around like they did the other night when they played Moanalua," said senior guard Steve Hess, who played and scored in each of Kalaheo's four OIA championship game victories since 1994.
Moanalua was unbeaten going its game against the Marauders on Thursday night. But Waipahu stuck like fly paper to the Menehunes throughout the game and made a late run to win it.
"Tonight, we had to get up on them, stay there and not let them back in," said Hess who scored 11 points, including another critical 3-pointer.
Avion Weaver will send his letter of intent early next week as part of a high school ceremony. The powerfully built fullback, who rushed for more than 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns his senior season at Valley High, is the 25th player to commit to UH.
His mother said yesterday her son will sign his letter of intent as part of an orchestrated ceremony by the Valley View coaching staff.
The UH coaching staff feels Weaver will provide a great one-two punch with fellow freshman running back Charles Tharp. The 5-foot-10, 207-pounder was on the Sacramento Bee newspaper’s all-area high school team.
Shortly after hearing of Weaver’s pending arrival, Fred vonAppen reacted yesterday to The Sporting News article that claims Hawaii had only the 12th-best recruiting class of the 16 Western Athletic Conference teams. “What do they know?” vonAppen said.