Monday, March 29, 1999
Aloy is MVP as
By Al Chase
‘Bows win Easter
Tournament
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii Rainbows offset 13 runners left on base with two big hits to win their 11th Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament championship yesterday.
More importantly, some of the problems that had arisen recently with the 'Bows pitching staff were solved during the tournament.
"I felt this tournament was very, very important for us, not so much that we won it, but because we had to solidify our pitching staff," Hawaii head coach Les Murakami said. "We had to find the tough guys. Rich (Snider), Troy (Yoshimasu) and Jamie (Aloy) showed us a lot."
Yoshimasu made his second tournament start on three days rest yesterday. The 5-foot-7 left-hander got through the sixth inning for the first time this season, and, with relief help from Ian Jones and Corey Miller, won his second tournament game.
The 5-3 triumph over Fresno State (15-21) did not come easy as Bulldog righty Tom Graham stranded 10 'Bows in the first five innings. However, Sean Takamori and Tracy Nakano found a couple of two-out pitches to their liking.
With the bases loaded in the second, the 5-9 Takamori fouled off a 2-2 pitch, then dumped a tantalizing double into short left-center field that Anthony Acevedo just missed grabbing with a shoe-string catch. Lars Hansen and Lane Nogawa, aboard with singles, scored.
"I was looking for that slow curve he was throwing," said Takamori.
Yoshimasu's roughest inning was the fourth with Jeff Prieto tripled in one run and scored on Mike Bowlin's single to tie the score.
In the bottom of the inning, tournament MVP Aloy hit the first of his three doubles to start a rally. Nakano worked a 3-2 count, then fouled off a pitch, before hitting a 380-foot shot over the right-field wall -- his second homer of 1999.
"He (Graham) was giving me fastballs on the outer half of the plate. The one I fouled off was border line, but I had to fight it because I didn't want to strike out," Nakano said. "The homer came on a fastball middle of the plate and in. He had good tailing movement on his fastball, but not this one."
Ian Jones rescued Yoshimasu in the seventh after Nick Garcia's RBI double cut FSU's deficit to 4-3. Corey Miller closed, retiring six of seven batters, for his first save as a Rainbow.
"If Miller is going to be a closer, he had to know what it's like with the game on the line," said UH pitching coach Carl Furutani.
"Wakon (Childers) has responded and it was Corey's turn. Now we have two kids who can do a pretty good job for us."
Nittaidai 3, Northwestern 1:Tokumichi Munemasa pitched a six-hit, complete game as the Eagles (5-2) finished third. J.P Williamson and Robert Dainton each had two hits for the Wildcats (7-9).
Hawaii Pacific 6, Hawaii-Hilo 5:Gabe Gerhardt climaxed a five-run fifth with an RBI double, then tripled in Travis Clutter with what proved to be the winning run in the eighth as HPU (30-9) took fifth place. Brandon Chaves had three hits for UHH (6-26).
Hawaii 5, Fresno St. 3
Fresno St. AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Creighton 2b 4 0 0 0 Takamori rf 5 0 3 2 Fanconi ss 4 1 1 0 Dartt 2b 4 0 0 0 Acevedo lf 4 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 4 2 3 0 Prieto dh 4 1 1 1 Nakano lf 4 1 1 2 Bowlin rf 4 1 2 1 Honma lf 0 0 0 0 Garcia 3b 4 0 1 1 Wakakuwa dh 5 0 1 1 Gemoll 1b 3 0 1 0 Hansen c 4 1 2 0 Harper c 3 0 0 0 Nogawa ss 4 1 1 0 Gerber ph 1 0 0 0 Wheeler 3b 2 0 0 0 Guzman cf 2 0 0 0 Mitchell cf 3 0 1 0 Fresno St. 000 200 100--3 6 1 Hawaii 020 200 01x--5 12 0E--Garcia. DP--Fresno St. 1 (Fanconi-Creighton-Gemoll). LOB--Fresno St. 5, Hawaii 13. 2B--Garcia, Takamori, Aloy 3. 3B--Prieto. HR--Nakano (2). CS--Takamori. SH--Nakano.
Fresno St. IP H R ER BB SO Graham (L,4-5) 5.0 10 4 4 2 4 Smith 3.0 2 1 1 1 3 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Yoshimasu (W,5-0) 6.0 5 3 3 0 2 Jones 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 Miller (S,1) 2.0 1 0 0 0 1Graham faced one batter in the 6th; Yoshimasu faced two batters in the 7th.WP--Yoshimasu. PB--Hansen. HBP--Mitchell (by Graham), Gemoll (by Yoshimasu), Hansen (by Graham), Wheeler (by Graham).
Umpires--Keoki Torres (plate), Guy Ogawa (first), Gary Montalbo (third). A--1,611 (2,729 tickets issued).
WAC Standings
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Texas Christian 10 2 .833 -- 18 13 .581 San Jose St. 7 2 .778 1 16 13 .550 Rice 9 3 .750 1 28 7 .800 Brigham Young 7 5 .583 3 17 15 .531 Nevada-Las Vegas 5 4 .556 3 15 20 .429 San Diego St. 5 7 .417 5 15 17 .469 Air Force 2 4 .333 5 17 15 .531 Hawaii 4 8 .333 6 22 11 .667 New Mexico 4 8 .333 6 14 19 .426 Fresno St. 2 7 .222 6 15 21 .417 Utah 2 8 .200 7 14 15 .483New Mexico & San Jose State played one tie game.Saturday's results
Hawaii 12, Hawaii Pacific 2
Fresno State 7, Nittaidai 0
Nevada-Las Vegas 9, Rice 6
Texas Christian 8, San Diego St. 7
Utah 9, New Mexico 8
Brigham Young 7, Southern Utah 3 (1st)
Brigham Young 9, Southern Utah 3 (2nd)
Yesterday's results
Hawaii 5, Fresno State 3 (nonconference)
New Mexico 4, Utah 3
Rice 16, Nevada-Las Vegas 5
All-Tournament Team
Catcher: Deric Yanagisawa, Hawaii Pacific.
First base: Jamie Aloy, Hawaii.
Second base: Tetsuro Maruhashi, Nittaidai.
Third base: Shane Lyons, Hawaii Pacific.
Shortstop: Lane Nogawa, Hawaii.
Outfielders: Anthony Acevedo, Fresno State; Sean Takamori, Hawaii; Daigo Nakamura, Nittaidai.
Designated hitter: Gabe Gerhardt, Hawaii Pacific.
Pitchers: Rich Snider, Hawaii; Tokumichi Munemasa, Nittaidai.
Most Outstanding Player: Aloy. Most Outstanding Pitcher: Munemasa.
Nittaidai 3, Northwestern 1
Northwestern 000 010 000--1 6 1 Nittaidai 000 102 00x--3 5 0Phil Rosengren, Gabe Ribas (5) and Nick Franzese; Tokumichi Munemasa and Shinji Okada. W--Munemasa. L--Ribas.Leading hitters--Nor: J. P. Williamson, 2-4, 2b; Robert Dainton, 2-4. Nitt: S. Okada, 2b, 2 RBIs.
Hawaii Pacific 6, Hawaii-Hilo 5
Hawaii-Hilo AB R H BI Hawaii Pacific AB R H BI Takahashi cf 5 1 2 0 Roman cf 3 2 1 0 Chaves ss 5 2 3 0 Clutter 2b-p 4 1 1 2 Yap dh 5 1 1 0 Sylvester 1b 0 0 0 0 Wallis 3b 4 0 2 1 Gerhardt dh 4 0 2 2 Kaneshiro pr-2b 0 1 0 0 Anzai 3b 0 0 0 0 Park ph 1 0 1 1 Yanagisawa c 4 0 0 0 Yates 1b 3 0 0 0 Peters lf 4 0 1 0 Yee ph-1b 2 0 0 0 Ka.McCllm 1b-p 4 1 1 0 Chu rf 3 0 2 1 Stith rf 4 1 1 0 Lynch lf 3 0 1 0 Lyons 3b-2b 2 1 0 0 Jinbo c 3 0 0 0 Uegawachi ss 3 0 1 2 McCracken ph-c 0 0 0 0 Sanchez 2b 3 0 0 0 Rayl ph-3b 1 0 0 0 Hawaii-Hilo 100 001 012--5 12 0 Hawaii Pacific 000 050 10x--6 8 2E--Uegawachi 2. DP--Hawaii Pacific 1. LOB--Hawaii-Hilo 10, Hawaii Pacific 4. 2B--Wallis, Roman, Clutter, Gerhardt. 3B--Chu, Gerhardt.
Hawaii-Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Allosada (L,0-6) 4.2 5 5 5 2 3 Miyake 2.1 3 1 1 0 0 Kruse 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 Hawaii Pacific IP H R ER BB SO Surdock (W,5-2) 4.2 5 5 5 2 3 Clutter 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 Ka.McCallum (S,3) 1.1 3 2 1 0 1Clutter faced one batter in the 8th.WP--Allosada, Surdock. Balk--Surdock. HBP--Chu (by Surdock), Lynch (by Surdock).
Umpires--Jim LeBeau (plate), Ben Ormita (first), Frank Tomaszewski (third). A--126.
