Saturday, April 3, 1999
UNLV continues
By Al Chase
Rainbows’ misery
Star-BulletinWhen Michael Dartt lined a one-out triple to the left-center field alley in the bottom of the first inning of last night's 5-3 Western Athletic Conference loss to Nevada-Las Vegas and did not score, it was an early warning signal for Hawaii's Rainbows.
UNLV had turned two singles and Brian Hertel's triple into a 2-0 lead in the top of the inning before many of the 2,083 Rainbow Stadium fans found their seats.
Correction: the first sign may have been Hertel's triple that began as a routine fly ball to medium deep right field for what could have been the third out of the first inning. Except, right fielder Sean Takamori suddenly stopped running for the ball and threw his arms up in front of his face.
"I saw the ball off the bat, then suddenly I had no idea where it was," said Takamori of the ball's flight through the low lights hanging off the grandstand roof behind home plate.
In any sport, when the opponent scores, good teams have an answer. They come right back and score. The Rainbows did not have answers last night.
The Rebels rode the combined efforts of starter Andy McCulloch and relievers Luke Anderson and Jimmy Smith to beat UH. The 'Bows now face the prospect of being swept at home in the series finale today at 1 p.m.
No one should be fooled by the closeness of the final score. All three UH runs came in the bottom of the ninth, yet it was merely a moment of flickering hope as all three UH outs were K's swinging.
Scooter Martines led off with a double and Anderson walked the bases full.
Enter Smith, who fanned Kenn Wakakuwa on a 2-2 pitch. Smith then wild-pitched Martines home and hit Wade Taguchi with a 1-2 pitch to reload the bases.
In a battle of former high school teammates, Smith whiffed pinch-hitter Lars Hansen on a 1-2 pitch. Takamori twice fought off an 0-2 pitch before dumping a two-run single in to right field.
Takamori stole second on the second strike to Dartt to put runners at second and third. But Smith blew a fastball by Dartt's futile swing to close out the 'Bows and earn his fourth save this season.
Twelve Rainbows went down on strikes, several seemingly unable to catch up to fastballs and others, especially the left-hand hitters, having no luck with breaking pitches on the hands. All three UNLV pitchers were able to hit their spots when it counted.
"These guys are really hot. They're playing well. They aren't playing like they were on the road," said Hawaii pitching coach Carl Furutani.
The Rebels are on the longest road trip in UNLV baseball history, 10 games in 13 days. They are 5-4 on the trip with today's game left and they have adjusted to Rainbow Stadium.
"We're from the thin air where the ball carries and we tend to be a fly ball team," said UNLV interim head coach Jim Pace. "Shoot, if we do that here, we're done. I told them we're not going to hit it out of here, so don't try."
UNLV got 10 hits off UH starter Rich Snider, who didn't pitch that badly although he had difficulty holding runners. The Rebels stole four bases and Wakakuwa had no chance to throw them out.
It was a tough night all around for the junior catcher. In the second, he crushed a ball to the left-center field alley, but was out trying for a triple on a fine relay from shortstop Eliott Sarabia to third baseman Chris Gillette.
"I thought he was out so that's why I didn't say anything," said Hawaii head coach Les Murakami.
In the fourth, Wakakuwa broke for second on a pitch that perhaps didn't bounce as far from catcher Harold Betts as Wakakuwa thought it would and was out in an inning-ending rundown with Tracy Nakano on third.
Nakano and Lane Nogawa singled to start the seventh, ending McCulloch's stint on the mound.
UNLV pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. was quick to call on the bullpen despite a 4-0 lead.
"He's been nursing a sore elbow all year," Stottlemyre said. "We didn't want the elbow to get tight before his next start."
It turned out to be a wise decision. Wakakuwa swung at the first pitch he saw from Anderson and bounced into a double play.
UP NEXT: The Rainbows leave tonight for Colorado Springs, Colo., where they have a three-game series scheduled against Air Force, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
UNLV 5, Hawaii 3
UNLV (18-20, 7-4 WAC)Hawaii (22-13, 4-10 WAC)
ab r h bi ab r h bi Adolph lf 3 1 1 0 Takamori rf 5 0 2 2 Gillette 3b 4 1 2 2 Dartt 2b 5 0 1 0 Ludwick cf 4 1 1 0 Aloy 1b 4 0 0 0 DeMarco dh 4 1 1 1 Martines dh 3 1 1 0 Hertel 1b 4 0 3 2 Nakano lf 2 1 1 0 Stoner 2b 4 0 0 0 Nogawa ss 3 1 2 0 Belding rf 4 0 1 0 Wakakuwa c 4 0 1 0 Betts c 4 0 1 0 Wheeler 3b 1 0 0 0 Sarabia ss 4 1 1 0 Taguchi ph/3b 1 0 0 0 Baker cf 3 0 0 0 Hansen ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 35 5 11 5 Totals 32 3 8 2 UNLV 201 000 101--5 11 0 Hawaii 000 000 003--3 8 1E--Nogawa. DP--UNLV 1 (Sarabia-Hertel), UH 1 (Wakakuwa-Dartt). LOB--UNLV 7, UH 8. 2B--Adolph, Gillette, Martines, Wakakuwa. 3B--Hertel, Dartt. SB--Adolph, Gillette, Ludwick, Sarabia, Takamori. CS--Wakakuwa. SH--Adolph. SF--Gillette.
UNLV ip h r er bb so McCulloch (W, 3-4) 6 5 0 0 3 7 Anderson 2 2 3 3 2 2 Smith (Sv, 4) 1 1 0 0 0 3 Hawaii ip h r er bb so Snider (L, 2-4) 8 10 4 4 1 5 Miller 1 1 1 1 1 2McCulloch faced 2 batters in the 7th. Anderson faced 3 batters in the 9th.HBP--Taguchi (by Smith). WP--Smith. Umpires--Ogawa (plate), Marple (first), Ramirez (third). T--2:41. A--2,083 (3,087 tickets sold).
WAC
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Texas Christian 11 2 .846 -- 19 13 .598 Rice 11 3 .786 31 7 .816 San Jose St. 7 4 .636 3 16 15 .516 Nevada-Las Vegas 7 4 .636 3 18 20 .474 Brigham Young 7 7 .500 4 17 17 .500 San Diego St. 5 7 .417 5 17 18 .486 New Mexico 5 8 .385 6 16 19 .458 Air Force 2 5 .286 6 16 17 .485 Hawaii 4 10 .286 7 22 13 .629 Utah 3 8 .273 7 15 15 .500 Fresno St. 2 8 .200 7 16 22 .432New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.Yesterday's results
Nevada-Las Vegas 5, Hawaii 3
San Diego State 3, Hawaii-Hilo 1 (1st)
San Diego State 12, Hawaii-Hilo 3 (2nd)
Texas Christian 16, Brigham Young 7
Rice 5, San Jose State 2
Utah at Air Force, ppd., snow
Fresno State at New Mexico, ppd., snow
Today's games
Nevada-Las Vegas at Hawaii
Fresno State at New Mexico (2)
Hawaii-Hilo at San Diego State
Rice at San Jose State
Texas Christian at Brigham Young (2)
Utah at Air Force (2), ppd., snow
