Monday, January 25, 1999
Rainbows
complete sweep
of Bruins
It's the first time since
By Al Chase
1994 that UH has started
a baseball season 3-0
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii Rainbow pitching staff put the key in the lock and shut down the UCLA offense on the opening weekend of baseball at Rainbow Stadium.
Although UH head coach Les Murakami said "three games don't make a season either way," and pitching coach Carl Furutani said "we need to work on the location of our pitches," the sweep had to be gratifying.
It is the first time since 1994 the Rainbows have begun a season with three consecutive wins.
Rainbow starter Troy Yoshimasu was high with too many pitches and potential starter-turned- reliever Dusty Bergman struggled with his breaking pitch yesterday.
The Bruins finally found home plate, but overall the UH bullpen was effective.
Ken Mackenzie, Bergman, Ian Jones and Rich Snider held the Bruins scoreless over the final five innings and UH rallied for three runs in the fourth en route to a 5-3 victory before 1,372 fans at Rainbow Stadium.
Yoshimasu got into trouble in the second inning by issuing a leadoff walk to Garrett Atkins, who scored on Forrest Johnson's double. Fortunately for UH, Johnson was out trying for a triple, or he would have scored when the next UCLA batter, Matt Pearl, also doubled.
Consecutive singles by Atkins and Bill Scott to start the fourth inning ended Yoshimasu's day.
The Bruins scored twice in the inning, but Mackenzie would have stopped the Bruins with no runs except for Michael Dartt's throwing error on a possible double play ball.
The first two UH runs scored on a strange and very frightening play in the second inning. With Matt Wheeler on second and Tracy Nakano on first, Lars Hansen lined a Josh Karp pitch to right-center field, equidistant from UCLA center field Nick Lyon and Johnson in right.
The two Bruins raced into the gap, dove for the ball and collided. The ball rolled free.
Hansen, seeing this as he rounded first, headed toward second.
"I was thinking three all the way. I saw coach Les waving people on and I never saw Nakano," Hansen said. "When I got to third, I heard Tracy coming up behind me yelling that I had passed him (on the base path).
"He kept trotting home while the UCLA guys in the infield were arguing who to tag."
The result for UH was two runs in, but Hansen was ruled out for passing a teammate on the base path.
Lyon, who complained his jaw, neck and knee hurt, and Johnson, who could barely lift his right arm and had lower back pain, left the game.
Nakano's two-run double put the 'Bows ahead in the fourth and Corey Miller singled Hansen home later with an insurance run.
"We didn't hit, but I saw signs of us getting so much better with our approach to hitting today," UCLA coach Gary Adams said. "We depend so much on our hitting and when you take that weapon out of our hands it tends to psyche us out more than other teams. We live and die with the long ball, but I'm not using that as an excuse.
"We're 0-3 with wood and if I were the commissioner of college baseball I would vote wood.
"I tip my hat to Carl's crew. I thought Carl did a great job, a masterful job of using his pitchers, of bringing guys in at the right time."
Nine different pitchers saw action for Hawaii. Freshmen Sean Yamashita and Aaron Pribble each made creditable one-inning debuts Saturday night.
Set-up man Ian Jones and closer Rich Snider were the only two to pitch twice, yesterday and Friday. For Snider, it's a new experience.
"It's the first time I've ever closed," he said. "I was a starter at Seminole State and all fall until I came in and closed the Green & White Game. They liked the way I did it."
Pitching out of the sun into shadows late yesterday afternoon, Snider threw one curve, two changeups and eight fastballs in retiring the side in order in the ninth for his second save. The role switch hasn't been a problem.
"I have pretty good recovery time and you don't throw as many pitches (as a closer). At least, you're not supposed to," Snider said.
Rainbows 5, Bruins 3
UCLA Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Santora ss 2 0 0 0 Takamori rf 3 0 1 0 Green c 4 0 1 0 Dartt 2b 3 0 0 0 Utley 2b 4 0 0 0 Wakakuwa 1b 3 1 1 0 Atkins 1b 3 1 1 0 Aloy lf 2 1 0 0 Scott lf 3 1 2 0 Wheeler 3b 2 1 1 1 Johnson rf 1 0 1 1 Nakano dh 1 1 1 1 Baron rf 3 1 1 0 Hansen c 3 1 2 2 Pearl dh 4 0 2 0 Polk pr 0 0 0 0 Shelley 3b 3 0 0 1 Aoki c 0 0 0 0 Reece ph 1 0 0 0 Miller ss 3 0 2 1 Lyon cf 0 0 0 0 Mitchell cf 3 0 0 0 Hymes cf 3 0 0 0 Totals 31 3 8 2 Totals 23 5 8 5 UCLA 010 200 000--3 Hawaii 020 300 00x--5E--Green (1), Karp (1), Takamori (2), Dartt (1).DP--UCLA 3 (Santora-Atkins 1, Utley-Santora-Atkins 2), UH 2 (Dartt-Miller-Wakakuwa, Wheeler-Dartt-Wakakuwa). LOB--UCLA 6, UH 7.
2B--Green (1), Johnson (1), Pearl (1), Nakano (1), Hansen (1). SB--Wakakuwa (1), Miller (1). S--Santora (1), Dartt (2), Wheeler (1), Nakano (1).
IP H R ER BB SO Karp (L, 0-1) 4 5 5 5 3 1 Birkins 4 3 0 0 3 2 Yoshimasu 3 4 3 2 2 2 Mackenzie (W, 1-0) 1 1 0 0 0 0 Bergman 2-1/3 2 0 0 2 1 Jones 1-2/3 1 0 0 0 0 Snider (S, 2) 1 0 0 0 0 1Yoshimasu pitched to two batters in the fourth inning.HBP--Wheeler and Takamori (by Karp), Miller and Hansen (by Birkins).
Umpires--LeBeau (plate), Montalbo (first), Torres (third).
T--2:45. A--1,372 (turnstile), 2,651 (tickets issued)
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