Monday, April 26, 1999
Rice finishes
sweep of ’Bows
Hawaii fails to capitalize,
By Al Chase
loses to the nation's No. 2
college baseball team
Star-BulletinJamie Aloy deserved a better fate yesterday in his first mound assignment since April 1, but the Hawaii offense sputtered and sputtered.
The Rainbows paid dearly for not taking advantage of numerous opportunities against Rice starter Kenny Baugh, who managed to pitch out of trouble with the aid of excellent defensive support.
The No. 2-ranked Owls (43-8 overall, 21-3 WAC) completed the series sweep with a 2-0 victory at Rainbow Stadium, dropping UH (28-17, 8-13) to eighth place in the standings.
"Jamie pitched great, we played solid defense, but we didn't get any clutch hits. No one came through offensively," said UH's Michael Dartt.
Sean Takamori reached third base with one out in the first and Darin Baker got there with two outs in the third inning, but neither scored.
A two out, bases loaded situation in the fifth produced nothing when Rice first baseman Jacob Baker made a sprawling stop of Dartt's base hit bid. Baker got to his knees and rifled a throw to Baugh covering first in time for the final out.
Aloy reached on a bunt single in the sixth, took second on a wild pitch, but died at third as Baugh got three consecutive groundouts to end the inning.
Baugh wasn't as sharp as the Owls previous starting pitchers. He fell behind in the count often, but he had a knack for coming back.
"We had 3-1 fastballs and just didn't get them," Dartt said. "He used the slider on the first pitch or when he was ahead, but he used the fastball to get back into the count."
"I think he saved a little because, when he had to, he brought the hard stuff," said Takamori.
The Rainbows stranded nine runners. And, when Lane Nogawa beat out an infield single to start the ninth, Rice closer Jesse Kuntz-Nicholl came on to strike out the side.
Hawaii was held to 21 hits and just two for extra bases in the series. The Owls collected 36 hits, including 15 for extra bases.
Aloy allowed just three base runners through six innings. He had retired 11 consecutive Owls before Will Ford powered a pitch 390 feet over the right-field fence to open the seventh inning.
Ford's two-out single to center scored Charles Williams with the second run in the eighth.
"It wasn't just their pitching; it was their defense," said UH head coach Les Murakami. "They made some unbelievable plays.
"We had men in scoring position with our three and four batters up and couldn't score. To me, that's unusual. But this team isn't going to fold its tent and we're going to have some luck sometime."
Murakami used 14 pitchers in the three-game series and cited that as the one good thing to come out of the weekend.
"It wasn't out of necessity, but we wanted to see people we can rely on," Murakami said.
RICE 2, HAWAII 0
Rice AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Williams lf 4 1 2 0 Takamori rf 3 0 2 0 Gray cf 4 0 0 0 Dartt 2b 3 0 0 0 Thames ss 4 0 0 0 Aloy p-dh 3 0 1 0 Ford rf 4 1 3 2 Martines lf 4 0 0 0 Smith 2b 4 0 1 0 Wakakuwa 1b-c 4 0 0 0 Berg dh 3 0 1 0 Nogawa 3b 4 0 1 0 Baker 1b 4 0 1 0 Hansen c-1b 4 0 1 0 Curry c 3 0 0 0 Miller ss 2 0 0 0 Fox 3b 4 0 0 0 Taguchi ph 1 0 0 0 Baker cf 3 0 1 0 Honma ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 34 2 8 2 32 0 6 0 Rice 000 000 110--2 8 0 Hawaii 000 000 000--0 5 0LOB--Rice 7, Hawaii 9.2B--Williams (15), Berg (13), Baker (3). HR--Ford (7). SB--Ford (3), Takamori (28), Hansen (3). SH--Berg (4), Dartt (17).
IP H R ER BB SO Baugh (W,9-2) 8 6 0 0 3 6 Yamashita 1 0 0 0 0 3 Aloy (L,6-6) 8 8 2 2 0 4 Childers 1 0 0 0 1 1Baugh pitched to one batter in the ninth.WP--Baugh, Aloy.
Umpires--Bob Galbraith (plate), Gary Samuels (first), Gary Montalbo (third). A--2,885. T--2:33.
WAC
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 21 3 .875 -- 43 8 .843 Texas Christian 17 6 .739 3-1/2 26 20 .565 Nevada-LV 13 8 .619 6-1/2 24 25 .490 San Jose St. 11 10 .524 8-1/2 21 22 .489 New Mexico 12 12 .500 9 25 23 .520 San Diego St. 10 11 .476 9-1/2 23 25 .479 Fresno St. 9 12 .429 10-1/2 27 26 .509 Hawaii 8 13 .381 11-1/2 28 17 .622 Brigham Young 7 13 .350 12 20 27 .426 Utah 6 13 .316 12-1/2 18 22 .450 Air Force 3 16 .158 15-1/2 17 28 .378New Mexico & San Jose St. played one tie game.Yesterday's results
Rice 2, Hawaii 0
Fresno State 7, San Diego State 5
Nevada-Las Vegas 12, Texas Christian 6
New Mexico 16, Air Force 8
San Jose State 8, Utah 2
