Friday, February 5, 1999
Hornets halt
UH win streak
Poor pitching and defense
By Al Chase
give the Rainbows their
first loss
Star-BulletinShabby defense, ineffective pitching and the handcuffs Pat Edwards put on Hawaii's offense led to a quick and convincing end to the Rainbows' season-opening, six-game winning streak.
Edwards, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior right-hander, allowed one hit through seven innings and retired 17 consecutive Rainbows during one stretch.
His Cal State Sacramento (2-1) teammates nibbled at UH starter Jamie Aloy early, then erupted for eight runs in the fifth inning en route to a 12-4 victory before the smallest (948) Rainbow Stadium crowd of the season.
Aloy, behind on the count most of the night and too high with too many pitches, left after the first three Hornets reached base in the fifth inning.Reliever Ken Mackenzie didn't retire any of the five Hornets he faced. Aaron Pribble fanned the 13th and 14th batters in the inning to end the uprising, but only after allowing a sacrifice fly, hitting a batter and giving up two RBI singles. Third baseman Matt Wheeler made his first two errors of the season in the inning. Errors by Corey Miller in the second and Kenn Wakakuwa in the sixth also led to CSS runs.
"We didn't play defense, four errors and two missed double plays," UH head coach Les Murakami said. "They hit the ball. Everything we threw, they hit in that one (eight-run) inning."
For Edwards, it was a complete reversal of his first start a week ago, when he walked seven in four innings and took the loss.
"I've kind of been that way my whole career. I don't focus on what I have to do to get guys out," Edwards said. "I mean, locate my fastball and change speeds ... you can get anyone out when you do that."
The win ended the Hornets' six-game losing streak to the Rainbows. CSS head coach John Smith was quick to point out it was the first time his team has won a series opener here since 1994.
"I think tonight might be the finest defensive job we've ever done in this stadium. I thought we played flawlessly all night," Smith said. "There were times we've come in here and couldn't pick the ball up and throw it.
"They gave us some help and we took advantage of it. It was nice to see we could do that, shut out all the distractions and be very focused."
Box Score
Hornets 12, Rainbows 4
CS Sacramento Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Jackson cf 5 2 2 2 Takamori rf 4 0 0 0 Elliott rf 4 0 1 1 Miller ss 3 0 0 0 Marshall ss 5 1 2 2 Wakakuwa 1b 2 0 0 0 Visger dh 6 1 2 2 Stegmaier 1b 2 0 0 0 Gilman 3b 5 1 2 2 Aloy p-dh 2 0 1 0 Gonzalez lf 5 1 1 1 Tanigawa dh 2 1 1 0 Salvemini lf 0 0 0 0 Wheeler 3b 2 0 0 0 Proud c 5 2 2 0 Nogawa 2b-3b 2 1 2 1 Hodgson 1b 5 2 2 1 Hansen c 2 0 0 0 Krebs 2b 4 2 0 0 Aoki c 1 1 0 0 Baker cf 3 0 0 0 Childers lf 2 0 0 0 Honma lf 1 1 1 2 Taguchi 2b 2 0 0 0 Castro ph 1 0 0 1 Pico 2b 0 0 0 0 Totals 44 12 14 11 Totals 31 4 5 4 CS Sacramento 110 181 000--12 Hawaii 000 000 040-- 4E--Miller (2), Wakakuwa (1), Wheeler 2 (2). DP--CSS 1 (Hodgson-Marshall-Edwards). LOB--CSS 11, UH 2.2B--Gonzalez (1), Hodgson (1). 3B--Gilman (1), Tanigawa (1), Honma (1). SF--Elliott (1).
IP H R ER BB SO Edwards (W, 1-1) 7 3 3 3 1 7 Gates 2 2 1 1 1 1 Aloy (L, 2-1) 4 7 6 4 1 4 Mackenzie 0 4 5 1 0 0 Pribble 1 2 0 0 0 2 McNair 1 1 1 0 1 2 Yamashita 1 0 0 0 0 2 Garrick 1 0 0 0 0 1 Giannetti 1 0 0 0 1 1Aloy pitched to three batters in the fifth inning.Mackenzie pitched to five batters in the fifth inning; Edwards pitched to three batters in the eighth inning.
WP--McNair (1), Giannetti (1). HBP--Jackson (by Aloy), Marshall (by Pribble).
Umpires--Ogawa (plate), Torres (first), Le Beau (third). T--3:04. A--948 (turnstile), 2,150 (tickets issued).
