Wednesday, April 28, 1999

’Bows need wins
to make playoffs

Hawaii must improve from
eighth to sixth in the WAC baseball
standings to qualify for the
conference playoffs

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

The Western Athletic Conference baseball standings don't lie.

All it takes is a quick look to realize the University of Hawaii is in a position that has been the norm the past six seasons. The Rainbows are faced with winning the majority of their nine remaining conference games just to qualify for the WAC postseason tournament.

Since winning back-to-back, regular-season titles in 1991 and '92, the Rainbows finished last four times and next to last twice in WAC divisional play over the next six seasons.

Entering tomorrow's opener of a three-game series at Utah (6-13 WAC), Hawaii (8-13) is in eighth place in the 11-team conference, two games out of sixth place, the final tournament qualifying spot.

The Fresno State Bulldogs (9-12) have won seven of their last nine conference games to move from last place to seventh. The San Diego State Aztecs (10-11), who host UH next weekend, are in sixth place, but play at third-place Nevada-Las Vegas this weekend.

Rice (21-3) and Texas Christian (17-6) are in the tournament and UNLV (13-8) would secure a berth with a sweep of SDSU. That leaves San Jose State (11-10), New Mexico (12-12), San Diego State, Fresno State and Hawaii battling for the final three berths.

Brigham Young (7-13) and the Utes aren't out of contention yet, but they need a run similar to what the Rainbows need to stay alive.

At the halfway point of the WAC schedule, UH was 5-10 and head coach Les Murakami felt a reversal of those numbers (for a 15-15 league record) would be enough to qualify for the tournament.

After sweeping Air Force and being swept by Rice, the 'Bows have to conclude the regular season with a 7-2 record to finish at .500.

Neither Utah, 4-5 at home in WAC games, nor San Diego State (6-6) has dominated opponents at home. But the 'Bows haven't established themselves as a solid road team, either, despite the success at Air Force.

The numbers paint a clear picture for the Rainbows:

A 6-3 record is probably the worst they can do and still expect to qualify. Anything better should be sufficient, anything worse and the once promising season ends against New Mexico, May 14-16, at Rainbow Stadium.

RAINBOW BASEBALL PLAYBOOK Utah Utes Coaches: Utah, Tim Esmay (3rd season, 77-74-1). UH, Les Murakami (29th season, 1,042-539-4). Season: Utah, 18-22 overall (6-13 WAC). UH, 28-17 (8-13). (PI) Probable starting pitchers: Utah, right-hander Brandon Page (6-3, 4.52); right-hander Brett McDermaid (2-4, 7:30); right-hander Ryan Bailey (3-2, 5.84). UH, right-hander Rich Snider (4-5, 3.88); Randon Ho (4-3, 1.79) or Dusty Bergman (1-3, 4.58); Jamie Aloy (6-6, 3.68). Top players: First baseman Ryan Johnerson (.336, 11 home runs, 23 RBIs, 13-of-16 in steals); left fielder Eric Wallace, (.316, 13 HR, 25 RBIs); center fielder Ryan Hilts (.306, second with 52 hits and 15 walks as leadoff hitter, 14-of-16 in steals). Interesting facts: The 'Bows practiced at Brigham Young today because Utah officials told UH it would cost $400 to practice in Ogden (40 minutes north of Salt Lake City) or $200 at Franklin Covey Field, the series site ... "I've never in my whole life had a guy tell me we had to pay to practice," Murakami said ... UH leads the series, 23-9 (9-6 in Salt Lake City) ... The 'Bows last played the Utes in 1997. Utah swept the three-game series at Rainbow Stadium ... Utah is 4-6 at home, 14-16 on the road ... UH is 3-6 in WAC road games ... Sean Takamori has the most multi-hit games (18) for the 'Bows and shares the lead for multi-RBI games (9) with Scooter Martines. Series keys: The weather forecast calls for rain and these are games the Rainbows can't afford to have canceled, nor can they afford losses... The Utes have three players who steal bases consistently, which forces UH pitchers to do a good job of holding runners to give their batterymates a chance at throwing runners out ... Hawaii lacked key hits against Rice, including even occasional power to the alleys. The UH offense needs to ignite itself on this road trip and take advantage of opportunities ... Games on grass requires UH defense, especially the infielders, to expect the odd hop or bounce although stadium is home for PCL's Salt Lake City Buzz. First pitch: Tomorrow, 3 p.m.; Friday, 1 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m., at Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake City. On the air: Tomorrow, updates on KCCN radio (1420 AM) during Rainbow volleyball match; Friday and Saturday, live on KCCN radio (1420 AM).

Hawaii Rainbows statistics

Season record: Overall 28-17, WAC 8-13, Home 24-10, Away 4-6, Neutral 0-1

Batting

											Bat.		Slug.
Player			G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	Avg.	TB	Pct.	BB	SO	SB
Sean Takamori		45	163	44	62	6	2	0	29	.380	72	.442	33	24	28
Jamie Aloy		38	137	43	50	14	2	4	34	.365	80	.584	28	34	3
Scooter Martines	32	137	17	47	9	1	1	35	.343	61	.445	4	23	1
Lane Nogawa		26	91	18	31	3	1	0	16	.341	36	.396	7	18	0
Lon Tanigawa		9	12	4	4	0	1	0	2	.333	6	.500	0	2	0
Kramer Aoki		6	6	2	2	0	1	0	1	.333	4	.667	1	1	0
James Polk		7	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.333	1	.333	0	1	0
Rory Pico		6	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.333	1	.333	2	1	0
Tracy Nakano		40	123	21	39	8	1	3	36	.317	58	.472	25	14	1
Michael Dartt		40	152	34	46	7	3	0	24	.303	59	.388	18	19	11
Lars Hansen		38	110	23	33	5	3	1	17	.300	47	.427	7	18	3
Darin Baker		25	57	16	16	3	2	1	11	.281	26	.456	7	15	0
Rah-Miel Mitchell	31	83	20	23	2	2	0	14	.277	29	.349	15	13	7
Kenn Wakakuwa		43	160	28	44	5	2	1	24	.275	56	.350	10	19	4
Wakon Childers		8	21	2	5	1	0	0	1	.238	6	.286	1	1	0
Matt Wheeler		31	98	18	23	2	2	0	9	.235	29	.296	11	24	0
Corey Miller		35	111	19	25	2	0	3	12	.225	36	.324	15	19	3
Wade Taguchi		13	18	4	4	0	0	1	3	.222	7	.389	1	4	0
Derek Honma		23	14	3	3	0	1	0	3	.214	5	.357	2	3	0
Jeremy Stegmaier	5	7	1	1	0	0	0	2	.143	1	.143	0	3	0
Jason Castro		4	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	0	.000	0	0	0
	Hawaii Totals	45	1,509	317	460	67	24	15	276	.305	620	.411	187	257	61
	Opponent Totals	45	1,548	213	405	81	28	15	194	.262	587	.379	128	270	27

Left on base: Hawaii 362. Opponents 332. Double Plays: Hawaii 43. Opponents 43. Triple Plays: Hawaii 1, Opponents 0.

Pitching

Player		G	GS	CG	W	L	Pct.	IP	H	BB	SO	R	ER	ERA
Chad Giannetti	3	0	0	0	0	.000	2.1	1	1	2	0	0	0.00
Michael Sakaino	1	0	0	0	0	.000	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0.00
Grant Sato	1	0	0	0	0	.000	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Randon Ho	10	10	0	4	3	.571	50.1	45	19	47	19	10	1.79
Patrick McNair	3	1	0	0	0	.000	5.0	4	4	4	2	1	1.80
Wakon Childers	16	0	0	2	0	1.000	18.0	19	5	18	6	4	2.00
Corey Miller	3	0	0	0	0	.000	4.0	3	2	5	1	1	2.25
Troy Yoshimasu	9	9	0	6	0	1.000	43.1	36	18	15	17	15	3.12
Matt Wheeler	3	1	0	1	0	1.000	8.0	6	1	7	4	3	3.38
Jamie Aloy	12	12	1	6	6	.500	78.1	81	9	55	40	32	3.68
Ian Jones	24	1	0	2	0	1.000	36.2	35	14	19	19	15	3.68
Rich Snider	23	5	1	4	5	.444	58.0	59	16	36	30	25	3.88
Dusty Bergman	13	5	0	1	3	.250	37.1	37	17	26	26	19	4.58
Ken Mackenzie	14	0	0	2	0	1.000	13.2	24	2	10	14	7	4.61
Gavin Garrick	14	0	0	0	0	.000	16.2	21	6	7	13	9	4.86
Sean Yamashita	10	1	0	0	0	.000	18.0	15	13	13	13	12	6.00
Ikaika Baptista	4	0	0	0	0	.000	4.0	4	0	0	3	3	6.75
Aaron Pribble	9	0	0	0	0	.000	7.1	13	3	6	6	6	7.36
Hawaii Totals		45	2	28	17	.622	403.0	405	128	270	213	162	3.62
Opponent Totals		45	6	17	28	.378	384.0	460	187	257	317	243	5.70

Saves (10): Snider 6, Childers 3, Miller 1. Opponents 8.