RAINBOW BASEBALL PLAYBOOK
vs. San Francisco Dons
First pitch: Tomorrow and Saturday, 6:35 p.m.; Sunday, 3:05 p.m., Rainbow Stadium.
Coaches: Hawaii, Les Murakami, 30th season (1,053-549-4, .657); San Francisco, Nino Giarratano, 2nd season (24-37-1 .395); .
Season: Hawaii (2-7); San Francisco (3-3).
Series record: Hawaii leads the series, 6-3. The teams last met in 1998 with the Rainbows winning, 11-5 and 5-2, with the Dons taking the middle game of the three-game series, 12-8 in 10 innings at Rainbow Stadium.
Probable starting pitchers: San Francisco, Ian Perio, senior left-hander (1-0, 0.00) who has not allowed an earned run in 14 innings, Peter Dunkle, sophomore right-hander (1-1, 8.53), John Herbert, senior right-hander (0-0, 5.59) ... Hawaii, Jamie Aloy, senior left-hander (0-1, 4.91), Randon Ho, senior left-hander (1-2, 13.11), Rich Snider, senior right-hander (1-2, 6.35).
Top position players: San Francisco, Taggert Bozied, junior infielder, West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1999, Baseball Weekly first team All-American (.409, 2 home runs, 5 runs batted in); Pat Welsh, senior outfielder, (.467, 1 HR, 5 RBIs), Dustin Delucchi, senior outfielder (.381, 6 RBIs) and Danny Trumble, junior outfielder, (.333, 6 RBIs) ... Hawaii, Shane Chan, sophomore designated hitter (.368, 9 RBIs), Derek Honma, sophomore outfielder (.333, 3 RBIs), Jamie Aloy, senior outfielder (.281, 2 RBIs).
Interesting facts: USF has seven Hawaii players on its roster. They are Greg Kagawa, a freshman infielder from Waiakea; Pat Walsh, a senior outfielder from Punahou; Chris Gossert, a sophomore right-hander from Waiakea; Keali'i Lum, a senior outfielder from Kamehameha; Ian Perio, a senior left-hander from Castle; Dylan Park, a freshman infielder from St. Anthony, and Doug Thom, a freshman right-hander from Punahou. The Hawaii connection is assistant coach Chad Konishi (Punahou) in his fifth season at USF ... The Dons are on a three-game winning streak after losing their first three games to start the season ... Both teams like to run. USF has stolen 15 bases in 19 attempts. UH has been successful on 12 of 16 attempts. The Dons' Danny Trumble is 6-for-6 in steal attempts while Rainbow Nate Jackson is 5-for-6 ... Taggert Bozied led NCAA Division I in home runs (30) and slugging percentage (.936 in 1999).
Series keys: The Rainbows have nine games left before they open Western Athletic Conference competition against defending champion Rice. They are not ready.yet to challenge the Owls, but UH head coach Les Murakami is confident once he settles on a starting lineup the team's fortunes will change. That process starts this weekend ... Hawaii's hitters have struggled with a .245 batting average this season and are striking out a little more than eight times a game. The batters need to produce more consistently which means delivering key hits with men on base ... Murakami is moving Jamie Aloy into the starting rotation. There is no sense saving him for the closer role if that opportunity is rarely there. The 'Bows need to get six or seven strong innings from their starters.
On the air: All three games live on KCCN (1420 AM); Tomorrow and Sunday live on KFVE-TV (Channel 5)
RealAudio: Live 'Net broadcast Click Here
Tickets: $6 orange and blue sections, $5 red section. $4 senior citizens (65 and over),students 4-18 and UH students with valid ID. Available at the Stan Sheriff Center, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by telephone, 944-2697 ($1 fee assessed per ticket). Telephone order available until noon on game days. Only Mastercard and Visa accepted. The Rainbow Stadium box office opens one hour prior to all games. $3 parking charge.
By Al Chase, Star-Bulletin
http://www.kaleo.org
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
