UH BASEBALL PLAYBOOK
vs. Santa Clara Broncos
First pitch: Tomorrow, 6:35 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 3:05 p.m., Rainbow Stadium.
Coaches: Santa Clara, Mike Cummins, 3rd season (49-68, .419); Hawaii, Les Murakami, 30th season (1,054-551-4, .656).
Season: Santa Clara (2-6); Hawaii (3-9).
Series record: Hawaii leads the series, 12-8, but is just 9-8 in Honolulu. The teams last played in 1996. The Rainbows won two out of three at Rainbow Stadium.
Probable starting pitchers: Santa Clara, Matt Travis, freshman left-hander (0-1, 3.07); Joe Diefenderfer, freshman left-hander (1-1, 3.46); Camden Kelley, senior right-hander (0-2, 8.00) ... Hawaii, Jamie Aloy, senior left-hander (0-1, 3.31); Randon Ho, senior left-hander (2-2, 9.87), Rich Snider, senior right-hander (1-3, 7.52)
Top position players: Santa Clara, Mike Balestreri, infielder (.368, 3 RBIs); Matt Queen, infielder (.333, 3 HR, 9 RBIs); Matt Miller, outfielder, (.333, 1 HR, 4 RBIs), Travis Hinton, infielder (.269, 2 HR, 6 RBIs) ... Hawaii, Danny Kimura, third baseman (.348, 9 RBIs); Shane Chan, designated hitter (.348, 1 HR, 9 RBIs); Lane Nogawa, infielder (.310, 2 RBIs) and Jamie Aloy, outfielder/first baseman (.310, 2 RBIs).
Interesting facts: Les Murakami's first game as head Rainbow coach against an NCAA Division I opponent was Santa Clara, his alma mater. The Broncos won ,10-0, March 21, 1971 ... Santa Clara has played two games each against future Rainbow WAC opponents San Jose State and Fresno State and lost all four ... The Rainbows are hitting .158 with the bases loaded. Opponents are hitting .625 in the same situation ... Opponents are batting just .143 against Sean Yamashita, .211 against Grant Sato and .220 vs. Jamie Aloy.
Series keys: The series features teams that are off to slow starts. There are frustrated players in both dugouts who have to realize they can't win five games in one night. They need to let the game come to them by doing what they are capable of accomplishing, in other words, play within themselves ... The Rainbows are averaging nine men left on base a game ... Hawaii has lost six of its last seven games, Santa Clara its last four. A couple of solid wins for either team would do wonders for the confidence level.
On the air: Tomorrow, live on KCCN radio (1420 AM); Saturday, joined in progress on KCCN (1420 AM); Sunday, live on KCCN (1420 AM) and 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
