Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Monday, March 20, 2000
Rainbows
all alone at the
top of WAC
The Hawaii baseball team grabs
Star-Bulletin staff
sole possession of first place thanks
to the pitching of Snider and a
7-0 win over Fresno StateFRESNO, Calif. -- Everything went right for the University of Hawaii baseball team yesterday.
Right-hander Rich Snider shut out Fresno State, 7-0, and the Rainbows took sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference.
The last time the Rainbows looked down on the rest of the conference was in 1992.
Hawaii head coach Les Murakami used an all right-handed hitting lineup that responded with 13 hits and sent FSU's best starting pitcher to the showers early.
Sophomore left-hander Beau Hintz and his 2.31 earned run average were gone after 3-2/3 innings.
The victory was UH's third on the four-game road trip and the 'Bows first shutout of the season.
Fresno State had nine hits, but Snider had the right pitch every time there was a hint of trouble.
"That's probably the best performance I've seen in a long time," Murakami said. "We're not talking about wood bats, but aluminum bats with the wind blowing out. And the Bulldogs went with a left-hand hitting lineup. But every time Rich needed a pitch, whether it was a curve, slider or change-up, he had it.
"And you have to give credit to Kenn Wakakuwa. He called a great game and blocked everything in the dirt."
Snider tied his season high with eight strikeouts and allowed just three Bulldogs to reach third base, all with two outs in the inning.
With FSU runners 90 feet from home, Snider fanned Simon Tafoya in the sixth, got Dave Hafiz on an easy grounder to second in the eighth and struck out Josh Labandeira to end the game.
Snider and Wakakuwa, batterymates the past two seasons, were reunited in that capacity for the Santa Clara series.
Since then, in five starts, Snider is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA. He has given up just nine earned runs in 38-2/3 innings while striking out 28 and walking 10.
The Rainbows received some early help from the Bulldogs, who fell apart in the first inning by committing three infield errors. UH turned the gifts into four runs.
Danny Kimura singled in one run and Patrick Scalabrini doubled home another. Kimura was 8-for-17 (.471) on the road trip and has 11 hits in his last 23 at-bats.
Wakakuwa's two-run homer closed out the scoring in the fifth. He went 4-for-5 to raise his season average to .398.
Rah-Miel Mitchell and Lane Nogawa, who had one WAC starting assignment between them, batted 1-2 in the lineup and each contributed three singles.
FSU was the WAC's top defensive team entering the series, but made seven errors against UH.
"We started off badly and never corrected anything," FSU head coach Bob Bennett said.
"Hawaii played aggressively and we did not. We played poorly and this was not a good time to play poorly."
Except for two eighth-inning errors in Saturday's 6-2 loss, the Rainbows' defense was solid.
"To come away 3-1 on the road and get two wins here against a very good opponent, you have to give the team credit." Murakami said.
Rainbows 7, Bulldogs 0
HAWAII AB R H BI FRESNO STATE AB R H B1 Mitchell rf 5 1 3 0 Creighton 2b 5 0 1 0 Nogawa 2b 5 0 3 1 Labandeira ss 5 0 0 0 Martines lf 5 1 0 0 Acevedo lf 4 0 1 0 Takamori rf 0 0 0 0 Gemoll 1b 4 0 3 0 Kimura 1b 5 2 2 1 Garcia 3b 3 0 0 0 Wakakuwa c 5 2 4 2 Papi dh 3 0 2 0 Bock dh 5 0 0 0 Tafoya rf 3 0 0 0 Scalabrini 3b 4 0 1 1 Hafiz ph 1 0 0 0 Baker cf 4 0 0 0 Bowlin rf 0 0 0 0 Pico ss 3 1 0 0 Harper c 3 0 0 0 Wolfe c 1 0 0 0 Guzman cf 4 0 2 0 Totals 41 7 13 5 Totals 36 0 9 0
Hawaii 400 120 000 - 7 13 0 Fresno State 000 000 000 - 0 9 3 E-Labandeira (16), Garcia (4), Hintz (1).
DP-Fresno State 1 (Creighton-Labandeira-Gemoll). LOB-Hawaii 9, Fresno State 11.
2B-Scalabrini (4), Gemoll 2 (8), Guzman (4). HR-Wakakuwa (2). SB-Mitchell (1).
Hawaii
IP H R ER BB SO Snider (W, 5-3) 9 9 0 0 2 8
Texas Christian
IP H R ER BB SO Hintz (L, 3-2) 3-2/3 7 5 2 1 3 Durmanich 1/3 2 2 2 0 0 Moran 5 4 0 0 0 1 Durmanich pitched to two batters in the fifth inning.
HBP-Scalabrini (by Moran).
Umpires-Wiley (plate), Pedersen (first), Saxton (third). T-2:03. A-3,215 (tickets sold).
WAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Hawaii 7 2 .778 16 12 .571 Fresno State 6 3 .667 20 7 .741 San Jose State 3 3 .500 15 8 .652 Rice 4 5 .444 12 13 .480 Hawaii-Hilo 4 8 .333 13 18 .419 Texas Christian 3 6 .333 8 19 .296 Yesterday's result
Hawaii 7, Fresno State 0
Tomorrow's games
Southwest Texas State at Rice
St. Martin's at San Jose State
Fresno State at Cal State SacramentoWednesday's games
Texas-San Antonio at Rice
Texas Christian at Texas TechFriday's games
San Jose State at Hawaii , 6:35 p.m.
Rice at Fresno State
Texas Wesleyan at Texas ChristianSaturday's games
San Jose State at Hawaii , 3:05 p.m.
Rice at Fresno StateSunday's games
San Jose State at Hawaii , 3:05 p.m.
Rice at Fresno State
Tarleton State at Texas Christian
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
