Monday, March 9, 1998
UH strong-arms San Diego State
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Patrick McNair was a workhorse for Hawaii yestereday, throwing 152 pitches against San Diego State.
Pitcher Patrick McNair helps the Rainbows avoid a series sweep
By Paul Arnett
Star-BulletinPatrick McNair had more butterflies fluttering in his stomach than a teenage girl waiting in the wings to meet Leonardo DiCaprio.
The freshman pitcher for the University of Hawaii wasn't sure why he was so nervous in yesterday's series finale with San Diego State.
Maybe he is prescient and had a vision Saturday night that he would spend yesterday afternoon throwing 152 pitches at the swing-happy Aztecs.
That would leave the most seasoned pitcher shaking in his shoes.
"I came out today more nervous than in any game before -- go figure that one," said McNair, who hung around long enough to help Hawaii secure a 7-6 Western Athletic Conference victory before a Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,444. The victory allowed UH to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
"It really shouldn't have been that close to tell you the truth," said the freshman pitcher, who is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.89. "But I couldn't keep my balance on the mound. I kept drifting toward the plate.
"I finally settled down in the third or fourth inning and made a correction in my motion. Then in the end, I lost my focus, so I've still got a lot of work to do this week."
UH coach Les Murakami will keep McNair's workload light the next few days as the Rainbows leave for Houston tomorrow night for a three-game series with powerful Rice University.
Murakami had considered opening with McNair against the Owls, who are 9-0 in league play and 16-6 overall.
"But we're not going to do that after how many pitches he threw today," Murakami said of McNair, who tossed 152 pitches in 823 innings. "We may move him up one spot in the rotation. We'll see.
"I didn't want to leave him in there that long, and if we hadn't made a couple of errors in the infield, it wouldn't have been that bad. But we needed this game. And it didn't look like he was pitching tired until the ninth."
Leading 4-3, the Rainbows gave McNair a little breathing room with three runs in the sixth. Michael Dartt drew a one-out walk and Darren Blakely followed with a single to the gap in right.
That plated Dartt, who scooted into third and scored after San Diego State right fielder Robert Womack bobbled the ball.
Blakely went to second on the error, and scored on a single to center by Jamie Aloy, who extended his hitting streak to six games. Tracy Nakano added an RBI-single to give the Rainbows a 7-3 lead.
But the Aztecs wouldn't go gently into that good night. Thanks to a pair of costly errors by UH freshman second baseman Shane Chan, they rallied for two unearned runs in the eighth and added another in the ninth before Murakami finally signaled for reliever Ikaika Baptista.
With two outs and men on first and second, Baptista got designated hitter Adam Kim to hit into a fielder's choice to end the game.
The win raised Hawaii's record to 2-4 in the WAC and 18-7 overall. San Diego State fell to 2-4 and 9-10.
"The good thing is we were able to stay even with San Diego State," said Murakami, who notched his 998th career victory. "Now we go on the road to play Rice, who swept San Diego State at their place.
"Obviously, our pitching is still a big concern. We knew this going in. But we need Randon Ho and Dusty Bergman to pitch strong like McNair does.
"He is not afraid. I think he's better prepared as a freshman than any pitcher we've ever had. Even Mark Johnson didn't pitch like this as a freshman."
Freshman catcher Kramer Aoki also performed well under pressure. Filling in for injured Lars Hansen, Aoki went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Nakano also drove in two runs with a single and a sacrifice fly.
"This game was absolutely necessary for us," McNair said. "We couldn't afford to be swept at home by these guys, especially with our next three games at Rice. I'm glad we got it. I felt that we were going to get it. And if the coaches want me to go to No. 1 in the rotation, I am absolutely ready to do it. All I need is a few days rest and I'll be there."
Matt's stats
Junior third baseman Matt Wheeler led UH on offense and defense:
At the plate: 3-for-3, double, two runs
San Diego St. HawaiiE--Womack, Herrera, Chan 2, Aoki.ab r h bi ab r h bi
Kolb cf 3 1 0 0 Blakely cf 3 1 1 0
Lopez ph 1 0 0 0 Honma rf 4 2 1 0
Pacheco lf 3 2 1 0 Aloy 1b 5 0 2 1
Pelaez 3b 5 0 1 1 Millichap lf 2 1 0 0
Womack rf 3 0 1 2 Nakano dh 4 0 1 2
Comeaux pr-rf 1 1 1 1 Wheeler 3b 3 2 3 0
Ramos ss-1b 2 1 0 0 Chan 2b 4 0 1 0
Kim dh 3 0 0 0 Aoki c 4 0 2 3
Hammons 1b 3 0 1 0 Dartt ss 3 1 0 0
Mora ph-ss 1 0 1 1
Rogers c 3 0 0 0
Foulds 2b 4 1 1 0
Totals 32 6 7 5 Totals 32 7 11 6
San Diego St. 002 010 021--6
Hawaii 020 113 00x--7
DP--San Diego St. 1 (Hammons-Ramos-Hammons), Hawaii 2 (Wheeler-Chan-Aloy, Wheeler-Aloy. LOB--San Diego St. 9, Hawaii 10.
2B--Pacheco, Pelaez, Womack, Comeaux, Wheeler. SB--Foulds (15), Honma (13), Dartt (8). SH--Pacheco. SF--Nakano.
IP H R ER BB SOWP--Samadani 2, Seiler. HBP--Blakely (by Samadani), Blakely (by Herrera).Samadani 4 6 3 3 1 3
Seiler (L, 0-1) 2/3 1 1 1 1 1
Bernhard 2/3 2 2 2 1 0
Garber 1/3 2 1 1 1 0
Herrera 21/3 0 0 0 2 2
McNair (W, 4-0) 82/3 7 6 3 9 3
Baptista (S, 1) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0
Umpires--Chad McCardell (plate), Jim Garman (first), Tomaszewski (third).
Rainbow Men Baseball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
