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Monday, March 6, 2000
Owls spell relief
By Al Chase
with an 8-4 win
over ’Bows
Star-BulletinThe Rice Owls finally won the ninth inning of a baseball game.
That statement might sound strange, but the Owls' last three losses happened in their opponents final at-bats. And, in losing six of their last seven games, the Owls had been outscored, 22-9, after the eighth inning.
"We expected to have great relief pitching this year and it's been a tremendous disappointment," said Rice head coach Wayne Graham.
The University of Hawaii Rainbows threw a scare into the Owls in the bottom of the ninth inning yesterday before losing, 8-4.
The teams play the rubber game of the three-game Western Athletic Conference series tonight starting at 6:35.
"You wouldn't believe how glad I was to get that run in the ninth inning," said Graham.
"We had to get out of range of the grand slam home run, then we didn't. We got back into range."
Eric Arnold's RBI single in the top of the ninth boosted the Rice lead to 8-3.
But UH leadoff hitter Sean Takamori, who was 4-for-4, sliced a 3-2 pitch down the left-field line that ricocheted off the black chain link fence and past left-fielder Jesse Ramon to the wall. Takamori circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
When Scooter Martines and Danny Kimura reached base on one-out walks, the 1,593 fans, largest Rainbow Stadium crowd of the season, sensed another comeback in the making.
However, Ramon, who had crushed a pinch hit, three-run homer off the scoreboard in the eighth inning, came on in relief. He hit Kenn Wakakuwa with a 3-2 pitch to load the bases before retiring the final two Rainbows. Patrick Scalabrini flied out to short center field and Jamie Aloy struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch.
"I didn't want to get beat on my fastball because the last two times I went out there, I got beat on my fastball," Ramon said. "I threw mostly sliders."
Graham and UH head coach Les Murakami both thought the pitch Aloy fanned on was ball four.
"That was a tough at-bat for Aloy. The pitch was too tough to hit and too close to take," said Graham.
Ramon's homer came off a low fastball from Bryan Lee.
"Bringing Lee in is OK, but it's not his fault. I think I should have walked the guy," said Murakami.
"All in all, we didn't take advantage of our opportunities. We hit the ball hard, especially Danny Kimura and Kenn Wakakuwa, but straight at people. We put pressure on their guy (Rice starter Jon Skaggs), but not enough."
Skaggs walked seven, threw five wild pitches and hit a batter, but kept escaping serious trouble when the Rainbows failed to produce the key hit. UH left 12 men on the bases.
Owls 8, Rainbows 4
Rice ab r h bi Hawaii ab r h b1 Smith 2b 5 2 2 0 Takamori rf 4 2 4 1 Ghutzman 1b 5 0 2 1 Honma cf 3 1 0 0 Gray cf 5 0 0 0 Mitchell ph 1 0 0 0 Arnold 3b-lf 3 1 2 1 Martines lf 2 0 0 1 Bryan dh 5 1 1 0 Kimura dh 4 0 0 0 Michaelis pr 0 0 0 0 Purtell pr 0 0 0 0 Van Noy rf 4 1 1 0 Wakakuwa 2b 3 1 0 0 Ackal lf 2 2 2 0 Scalabrini 3b 4 0 0 0 Roman ph-lf-p 1 1 1 3 Aloy 1b 3 0 2 0 Fox ss 2 0 1 2 Bock c 3 0 1 1 Lukin c 4 0 1 1 Pico ss 1 0 0 0 Baker ph 1 0 0 0 Nogawa ss 1 0 0 0 Totals 36 8 13 8 Totals 30 4 7 3
Rice 110 101 031 - 8 13 0 Hawaii 010 010 011 - 4 7 1 E-Aloy (3).
DP-Rice 1 (Fox-Smith-Ghutzman), UH 2 (Pico-Wakakuwa-Aloy 2). LOB-Rice 7, UH12.
2B-Smith 2 (7), Ghutzman (5), Bock (1). 3B-Ackal (1), Fox (1). HR-Roman (1). SB-Takamori (8). S-Van Noy (1), Fox (3), Honma (1).
ip h r er bb so Rice Skaggs (W, 3-0) 7 5 3 3 7 4 Adler 2 1 1 2 0 Roman 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii Ho L, 2-3) 7 10 6 6 3 5 Lee 2 3 2 2 0 0 Skaggs pitched to two batters in the eighth inning.
WP-Skaggs 5 (6), Ho (2). HBP-Wakakuwa (by Skaggs and Roman). Umpires-Montalbo (plate), Eldridge (first), Rodriguez (third). T-2:57. A-1,593.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Fresno State 5 1 .833 14 4 .778 Texas Christian 2 1 .667 7 13 .350 San Jose State 3 3 .500 11 5 .688 Hawaii 1 1 .500 9 11 .450 Rice 2 3 .400 8 11 .421 Hawaii-Hilo 1 5 .250 10 15 .400 Saturday's results
Hawaii, 10, Rice 9
Fresno State 7, Hawaii-Hilo 3
Texas Christian 6, San Jose State 4Yesterday's results
Rice 8, Hawaii, 4
San Jose State 5, Texas Christian 3Today's games
Rice at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
Temple at Fresno StateTomorrow's games
Texas Christian at Texas
Creighton at Fresno State
>http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
