vs. Rice Owls
PLAYBOOK
By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin
First pitch: Tomorrow, 12:05 p.m.; Sunday, 3:05 p.m.; Monday, 6:35 p.m., Rainbow Stadium.
Coaches-Hawaii: Les Murakami, 30th season (1,059-552-4, .657); Rice: Wayne Graham, 9th season (343-165, .675).
Season-Hawaii: (8-10, 0-0 Western Athletic Conference); Rice: (7-10, 1-2 WAC).
Series record: Rice leads, 6-0. The Owls swept the league series here last season by scores of 7-3, 12-3 and 2-0.
Probable starting pitchers - Rice: Kenny Baugh, junior right-hander (3-0, 0.92); Jon Skaggs, junior right-hander (2-0, 3.54), and Marc Gwyn, 6-3 senior right-hander (1-3, 3.23) ... Hawaii: Jamie Aloy, 6-3 senior left-hander (2-1, 3.48); Randon Ho, 5-10 senior left-hander (2-2, 7.31), and Rich Snider, 5-10 senior right-hander (2-3, 5.00).
Top position players - Rice: Bobby Ryan, soph. IF (.324, 0 HR, 4 RBIs); Eric Arnold, soph. RF (.309, 4 HR, 16 RBIs); Jason Gray, senior CF (.308, 1 HR, 8 RBIs) and Brett Smith, 5-10 senior 2B (.286, 2 HR, 8 RBIs) ... Hawaii: Scooter Martines, junior LF (.371, 6 RBIs); Kenn Wakakuwa, senior C/IF (.333, 13 RBIs); Danny Kimura, junior DH (.329, 7 doubles, 19 RBIs).
Interesting facts: The Rainbows have hit .185 with the bases loaded. However, the 'Bows have hit well with two outs (.312) and with runners in scoring position (.295) ... Who would have guessed that the top two teams in the WAC coaches preseason poll would enter this series with losing records? ... Baugh pitched his first complete-game shutout.Sunday to earn WAC Pitcher of the Week honors. He allowed six hits and fanned three as Rice salvaged the final game of a three-game WAC series with Fresno State ... Rice has played in two of the last three College World Series, the only WAC team to finish its season in Omaha since 1980 when Hawaii lost the championship game to Arizona, 5-3 ... The Owls had 10 players selected in last June's major league draft, the most of any school in the nation.
Series keys: The Rainbows are hitting .265 against right-handers, .299 vs. left-handers. All three Rice starters are right-handers, an obvious challenge for the Rainbows ... Rice hit .328 a year ago, but had a team batting average below .200 just a couple of weeks ago. The Owls have improved to .251 recently ... The UH team batting average (.280) has climbed steadily and, with 12 WAC contests in the next 13 games, it would behoove the 'Bows to keep that average on the upswing ... Opponents are hitting .255 against Rice ... "I'm not worried about the hitting. If we pitch a little bit and play defense, we'll be OK," Hawaii head coach Les Murakami said ... The Rainbows can't get caught up in having never defeated the Owls.
On the air: All games live on KCCN radio (1420 AM) and KFVE TV (Channel 5); also on the internet at http//uhathletics.hawaii.edu/Sportslive/listen.html.
Tickets: $6 orange, blue sections, $5 red section. $4 age 65 and over, students 4-18 and UH students. At Stan Sheriff Center, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by telephone, 944-2697 ($1 fee per ticket). Telephone orders available until noon on game days. Only Mastercard and Visa. Rainbow Stadium box office opens one hour prior to all games. $3 parking.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
