Thursday, May 20, 1999
TCU walks
all over ’Bows
Rainbow pitchers walk 10
By Al Chase
Horned Frog batters on their way
to a 9-5 WAC tourney loss
Star-BulletinFRESNO, Calif. -- The second-seeded Texas Christian Horned Frogs took a walk in the park, Pete Beiden Field to be exact, to get their first-ever Western Athletic Conference tournament baseball game, a 9-5 victory over Hawaii yesterday.
The TCU win brought the fifth-seeded Rainbows down from the euphoria of qualifying for the playoffs to facing elimination early today against New Mexico.
Two things happened in the first inning that could have signaled the way the day would go for the Rainbows. One did and one didn't.
Sean Takamori opened the game with a double just inside the third base bag and was sacrificed to third by Michael Dartt.
TCU head coach Lance Brown brought his infield in and it paid off as Takamori was thrown out at home on Jamie Aloy's high chopper to second baseman Erick Macha.
The scoring opportunity was wasted, and that would happen three more times against TCU starter Scott Atchison.
In the bottom of the first, UH starter Rich Snider shucked his usual early struggles and faced just four batters. He also got through the second inning despite giving up a single and a walk, but he never finished the third.
A walk, single and walk loaded the bases. UH head coach Les Murakami brought in Ian Jones, the first of seven relievers, who hit the only batter he faced.
TCU (30-24) took a 3-0 lead on Cade Harris' sacrifice fly and Shaun Wooley's two-run single. The Horned Frogs went ahead 6-1 in the fourth inning on Royce Huffman's three-run homer that followed a pair of walks by Randon Ho.
For the game, Hawaii pitchers walked 10 Horned Frogs, with five of those coming around to score.
The chances of UH (36-19) coming back against Atchinson, who blanked the 'Bows for seven innings during the regular season, are slim.
"I don't want to make excuses, but there was a question on the strike zone," UH pitching coach Carl Furutani said. "We had people in the back (behind home plate in the stands) telling us it was different for the two teams. I don't fault Richard Snider or Randon Ho.
"We had pitches called strikes when our hitters were up that weren't for the other side. Maybe we nibbled too much.
"They (Horned Frogs) did a good job on breaking balls down low where normally we get swings when we're ahead in the count. They showed a lot of discipline laying off those pitches."
"The thing I think is stupid is you have seven umpires here and what do we have, a Texas umpire (behind the plate) when we play a Texas school," Murakami said. "Scouts we know and my coaches are telling me the strike zone is not the same. This is supposed to be neutral all the way."
The plate umpire was Jon Bible, one of two WAC assignment umpires and a national umpire instructor who has worked numerous NCAA regionals and the College World Series.
"Maybe he had a bad day. I wasn't impressed," Murakami said. "But, for that matter, we didn't hit. We had men on base and didn't hit."
The 'Bows got one-out singles from Kenn Wakakuwa and Corey Miller in the second, but Atchinson fanned Lars Hansen and Lane Nogawa.
Singles by Scooter Martines, Wakakuwa and Miller accounted for UH's first run in the third, but Atchinson struck out Hansen again to end the inning.
Two-out singles by Martines and Tracy Nakano, who extended his hitting streak to 20 games, produced nothing in the eighth as Atchinson fanned Wakakuwa for his eighth whiff.
"The bottom line is we didn't get the job done. We just have to regroup tomorrow and that's what we plan to do," Furutani said.
UH will face UNM left-hander Eddie Misquez, who baffled the Rainbows last Friday before faltering due to the humidity at Rainbow Stadium.
Hawaii pins its hopes on the left arm of Dusty Bergman.
RICE 2, NEW MEXICO 1: Left-hander Mario Ramos gave up a first inning run, then held the sixth-seeded Lobos (29-29-1) to three hits over the last eight innings.
The top-seeded Owls (49-11) broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning when Will Ford led off with a double, took third on a fly out and scored on Justin Berg's sacrifice fly.
Ramos walked three and fanned eight to improve to 12-1 for the season.
SAN JOSE STATE 8, UNLV 7: The third-seeded Spartans (29-24-1) built a 7-3 lead after two innings, then held on against No. 4 seed UNLV (27-33-1).
Vince LaCorte went seven innings for his ninth win. Tony Tognetti hit a two-run homer for SJSU.
Harold Betts went 3-for-5 with a double and homer for the Rebels.
UPDATE: Fresno State head coach Bob Bennett was offered a contract extension yesterday. In 31 seasons at FSU, Bennett is 1,190-685-2. ... In other games today, Rice plays UNLV and TCU plays San Jose State.
LOOKING AHEAD: Rice has submitted a bid to host a super regional in the Astrodome. With the expanded regional field, the 64-team first round next week has 16 four-team regionals. The winners will play best of three super regionals with those winners advancing to the College World Series. Hawaii did not submit a bid for either regional round.
TCU 9, HAWAII 5
Hawaii AB R H BI TCU AB R H BI Takamori cf 5 1 1 1 Silva c 2 3 1 1 Dartt2b 4 0 1 1 Wallace 1b 3 1 1 0 Aloy rf 5 0 0 0 Huffman 3b 3 2 1 2 Martines dh 5 1 3 1 Musoudakis 3b 0 0 0 0 Nakano lf 5 0 1 0 Harris dh 3 0 0 2 Wakakuwa c 3 0 2 0 Wooley lf 5 0 3 1 Miller ss 4 1 3 1 McLamore ss 3 0 0 0 Hansen 1b 3 1 0 0 Hamilton rf 4 1 2 1 Nogawa 3b 3 1 0 0 Macha 2b 3 1 1 0 Wilson cf 3 1 1 1 Totals 37 5 11 4 29 9 10 8 Hawaii 000 100 004--5 11 0 TCU 003 301 20x--9 10 0DP--Hawaii 1 (Nogawa-Wakakuwa-Hansen), TCU 1 Macha-Huffman-Wallace). LOB--Hawaii 9, TCU 10.2B--Takamori (8), Silva (10). HR--Huffman (14). SH--Dartt (20). SF--Silva (9), Harris 2 (2).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Snider (L, 6-6) 2-1/3 4 3 3 4 1 Jones 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ho 1-2/3 2 3 3 2 1 Wheeler 1 0 0 0 0 1 Baptista 1/3 1 1 1 2 0 Mackenzie 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 Yamashita 1 2 2 2 1 1 Pribble 1 1 0 0 1 0 TCU IP H R ER BB SO Atchison (10-4) 8 8 1 1 1 8 Durham 1 3 4 4 2 0Jones pitched to one batter in third. WP--Baptista. HBP--McLamore (by Jones).Umpires: Bible (Plate), TBurleson (First), Christel (Second), Pederson (Third). A--240 (1,010 all day). T--3:05.
