Saturday, April 17, 1999
’Bows pound on Vulcans
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinHawaii head baseball coach Les Murakami meant absolutely no disrespect for last night's opponent when he said, "We're not going to see this kind of pitching when we play Rice."
Coaches normally don't look ahead to an upcoming series and often have to chide players about doing that, but Murakami knows next weekend's Western Athletic Conference encounter with the No. 3 ranked Owls is big.
He also is aware that junior right-hander Rich Snider must be much sharper next week.
"If Rich pitches like this against Rice, he's going to have trouble," Murakami said, after Snider scattered four hits in seven innings to spark the Rainbows past UH-Hilo, 17-1.
This weekend's action should determine UH's starting rotation for the three games against Rice. Fortunately, Hawaii enjoys depth this season, but, as Murakami said, "A lot of our depth has gone down the drain. If it were last year, we'd be dead already."
And maybe this is the UH skipper's way of not letting last night's victory, with accompanying 21-hit outburst, over the Vulcans (8-36) leave his Rainbows with a false sense of accomplishment.
In many ways, the Rainbows (27-13) looked like they picked up right where they left off in the Air Force series, even to a few home-run cuts taken by some of the 'Bows. They scored in every inning but the second, which both helped and hindered Snider.
"I really didn't have my stuff tonight. They (the Vulcans) helped me out by swinging at a lot of bad pitches," said Snider, who evened his record at 4-4.
"I actually was throwing well in the pen before the game, but had trouble with my location during the game. And, we had some long innings," Snider said.
This was the same situation he experienced in his Air Force start. As his teammates scored at will, Snider tended to get a little stiff while watching the offensive merry-go-round from the dugout.
"He threw pretty well. I think it was more mental stuff. His focus wasn't there all the time," said UH pitching coach Carl Furutani.
Murakami was able to play every healthy Rainbow suited up.
Redshirt freshman Wade Taguchi made the most of his appearance with a two-run homer in the seventh inning and an RBI single in the eighth.
"I just go up and put my best swing on the ball. It was a change-up in and I was able to see it all the way," said Taguchi.
Backup first baseman/catcher Jeremy Stegmaier got his first hit of the season, an RBI single to center in the eighth.
Jamie Aloy was 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
STREAKING: Sean Takamori extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Tracy Nakano and Corey Miller now have six-game streaks going.
WAC
W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 16 3 .842 -- 37 8 .822 Texas Christian 15 3 .833 1/2 24 16 .600 Nevada-Las Vegas 10 7 .588 5 21 23 .477 San Diego St. 9 9 .500 61/2 22 21 .517 San Jose St. 8 8 .500 61/2 18 19 .487 New Mexico 9 10 .474 7 22 21 .511 Hawaii 8 10 .444 71/2 27 13 .675 Brigham Young 7 13 .350 91/2 19 25 .432 Utah 5 10 .333 9 17 19 .472 Fresno St. 5 11 .313 91/2 22 25 .468 Air Force 3 11 .214 101/2 17 22 .436New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.Yesterday's results
Hawaii 17, Hawaii-Hilo 1
Fresno State 10, San Jose State 3
Nevada-Las Vegas 13, Utah 9
Rice 5, New Mexico 2
San Diego State 23, Brigham Young 14
Texas Christian 14, Air Force 11
Today's games
Hawaii-Hilo vs. Hawaii, War Memorial Stadium
Air Force at Texas Christian
Nevada-Las Vegas at Utah
New Mexico at Rice
San Jose State at Fresno State
Hawaii 17, Hawaii-Hilo 1
Hawaii-Hilo AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Chu cf 4 0 0 0 Takamori rf 3 2 2 0 Chaves ss 3 1 0 0 Honma rf 0 1 0 0 Yap 2b 4 0 1 1 Dartt 2b 6 3 2 1 Sanchez 2b 0 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 4 3 3 4 McCracken c 2 0 1 0 Stegmr ph/1b 1 1 1 1 Jinbo ph 1 0 0 0 Martines dh 5 0 2 1 Wallis dh 3 0 0 0 Tanigawa ph 1 0 1 0 Yee 1b 2 0 0 0 Nakano lf 4 2 3 1 Yates ph/lf 2 0 0 0 Baker ph/lf 2 0 0 0 Rayl 3b 3 0 1 0 Nogawa 3b 4 1 2 1 Takahashi rf 3 0 0 0 Taguchi ph/3b 2 1 2 3 Lynch rf 0 0 0 0 Miller ss 4 0 1 1 Miura lf 3 0 1 0 Castro ph/3b 0 0 0 1 Wakakuwa c 3 1 2 1 Hansen c 1 1 0 0 Mitchell cf 3 1 0 0 Totals 30 1 4 1 Totals 43 17 21 15 Hawaii-Hilo 000 100 000--1 4 2 Hawaii 301 212 35X--17 21 0E--Sanchez (9), Tanaka (1). DP--Hawaii-Hilo 1 (Yap-Chaves-Yee), Hawaii 1 (Dartt-Miller-Aloy). LOB--Hawaii-Hilo 5, Hawaii 12.2B--Yap (4), Rayl (6), Aloy (14), Martines (8). HR--Taguchi (1). SB--Nakano (9), Mitchell (7). SH--Miller (4). SF--Castro (1), Wakakuwa (2).
Hawaii-Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Siff (L, 0-6) 3.2 11 6 6 1 1 Agustin 1.1 4 3 2 1 0 Tanaka 2 3 3 3 0 0 Park 0 0 3 2 2 0 Sumibcay 1 3 2 1 0 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Snider (W, 4-4) 7 4 1 1 3 5 Jones 1 0 0 0 0 0 Baptista 1 0 0 0 0 0WP--Siff 2 (6), Snider (3). HBP--Mitchell 2 (by Agustin and Park), Takamori (By Agustin). Umpires--Ogawa (plate), Torres (first), LeBeau (third). A--1184. T--2:52.
