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Saturday, April 1, 2000
Rainbows romp,
share lead in
Easter Tournament
Hawaii cruises past Winthrop
By Al Chase
after day begins with first-ever
forfeit by L-C State
Star-BulletinDay five of the 25th GTE Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament will be remembered for Manoa's swirling winds and rain, flaring tempers and an unsuspected first.
Yesterday's opening game was forfeited by Lewis-Clark State to Pepperdine.
Then, the University of Hawaii Rainbows pounded out 14 hits, including three triples, to defeat Winthrop, 11-2, in the second game at Rainbow Stadium.
The forfeit is the first in tournament history. It happened in the events' 543rd game.
LCS head coach Ed Cheff was ejected in the first inning after a disagreement with plate umpire Don Greman and first base umpire Gary Montalbo.
The dispute was over the number of pitches reliever Jake Kor should have and whether starter Anthony Ferrari was injured.
A reliever entering the game gets eight warmup pitches, but if he replaces an injured pitcher, the rule states he has a reasonable amount of time to warm up.
According to the umpires report, Cheff also made contact with Montalbo and verbally threatened him with physical abuse.
In such cases, the NCAA rules state the coach will be suspended for the team's next game which is today against Winthrop.
The rule book also states that after a coach is ejected from a game, he must leave the dugout and the area behind the dugout.
In the bottom of the third inning, the umpires observed Cheff standing in the doorway that leads from the dugout to the locker rooms under the stands.
That is the reason why the game was forfeited.
Earlier in the week, Randon Ho was scheduled to start last night's game against Winthrop, but UH head coach Les Murakami decided Rich Snider was a better match for the Eagles.
Snider proved his coach right by pitching eight strong innings. He allowed five hits, struck out eight and issued just one walk.
"I was pretty much back to spotting the ball the way I usually do," said the senior right-hander who had been charged with the loss in his last two appearances.
"Brian (Bock) did a good job. He would call for the change-up when I was behind in the count. I don't think I shook him off more than two times."
Snider recorded most of his strikeouts with the change or a breaking pitch.
"When we were ahead in the count, I liked to give them a breaking pitch in the dirt and let them fish," Bock said.
The Rainbows gave Snider early support with a four-run third inning that featured Danny Kimura's two-run single. He also had an RBI triple in the sixth.
Hawaii scored three runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Snider's only mistake came in the sixth when Jason Colson lost a ball over the right-field wall to account for the Eagles runs.
"Rich seems to pitch better when the wind is blowing out and you'd think he'd have problems," Murakami said. "But, he seems to focus more.
"Darin Baker had a good game. I've been telling him he wasn't aggressive enough at the plate, but he's changed."
Baker was 4-for-5 with a triple. He also stole three bases.
"I think my strong point is hitting from the left side. I haven't felt comfortable from the right side since I had the surgery (on his left shoulder last summer)," Baker said.
A natural right-handed hitter, three of Baker's hits were from that side last night. He is the fourth Rainbow with a four-hit game this season.
Sean Takamori, Lane Nogawa and Kenn Wakakuwa each had two hits.
Ho will start tonight's game against Pepperdine and try to pitch the Rainbows into Sunday's championship game.
In case two teams are tied, the first tiebreaker to determine tomorrow's pairings is head-to-head competition followed by average run differential.
Pepperdine 7, Lewis-Clark State 2: Although the game ended by forfeit in the bottom of the third inning, the game is considered complete and all statistics count.
The Waves improved to 2-3 to keep their title hopes alive.
The Warriors (3-2) dropped into a first-place tie with Hawaii.
Rainbow Easter Tournament
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W L Pct. Lewis-Clark St. 3 2 .600 27 7 .794 Hawaii 3 2 .600 20 16 .556 Pepperdine 2 3 .400 20 13 .606 Winthrop 2 3 .400 20 15 .571 Yesterday's results
Pepperdine 7, Lewis-Clark State 2 (game forfeited after 2 1/2 innings)
Hawaii 11, Winthrop 2
Today's games
Winthrop vs. Lewis-Clark State, 2:30 p.m.
Hawaii vs. Pepperdine, 6:37 p.m.
Tomorrow's games
Games at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., pairings to be determined after today's games.
Rainbows 11, Eagles 2
Winthrop ab r h bi Hawaii ab r h bi Webb ss 4 0 0 0 Takamori rf 5 2 2 0 Ury 1b 4 0 1 0 Baker cf 5 2 4 1 Leathers rf 3 1 0 0 Aloy 1b 2 1 0 1 Colson 3b 3 1 1 2 Kimura dh 5 3 2 3 Funk lf 4 0 0 0 Wakakuwa 2b 3 0 2 2 Friedman cf 3 0 2 0 Purtell 2b 1 0 0 0 Wallace ph 1 0 0 0 Scalabrini 3b 3 0 1 1 Neale c 3 0 0 1 Ribellia ph-3b 1 0 0 0 Simmons c 1 0 1 0 Mitchell lf 2 1 1 0 Riopel dh 3 0 0 0 Tanigawa ph 1 0 0 0 King ph 1 0 0 0 Jackson lf 0 0 0 0 Thurmond 2b 4 0 1 0 Bock c 4 0 0 0 Aoki c 0 0 0 0 Nogawa ss 4 2 2 1
Winthrop 000 002 060 - 2 6 5 Hawaii 004 013 30x - 11 14 2 E-Ury (3), Colson (10), Friedman (2), Neale (4), Patterson (3), Wakakuwa (6), Scalabrini (10).
DP-Winthrop 2 (Colson-Thurmond-Ury, Webb-Thurmond-Ury), Hawaii 1 (Nogawa-Wakakuwa-Aloy). LOB-Winthrop 7, Hawaii 8.
3B-Baker (1), Kimura (3), Mitchell (2). HR-Colson (9). SB-Ury (6), Takamori 2 (18), Baker 3 (5). SF-Aloy (1).
ip h r er bb so Winthrop Patterson (L, 4-1) 2 2/3 4 4 3 5 1 Tomsich 4 1/3 10 7 6 0 2 Horner 1 0 0 0 0 2 Hawaii Snider (W, 6-5) 8 5 2 1 1 8 Lee 1 1 0 0 0 1 WP-Snider (4). HBP-Leathers (by Snider), Mitchell (by Tomsich.
Umpires-Montalbo (plate), Torres (first), Greman (third). T-2:41. A-1,446.
Pepperdine 7, Warriors 2
Lewis-Clark State 200 xxx xxx - 2 4 1 Pepperdine 52x xxx xxx - 7 4 0 Lewis-Clark State forfeited the game after 2 1/2 innings.
Anthony Ferrari, Jake Kor (1) and J.R. Diaz; Matt Wersel, Noah Lowry (1) and Dane Sardinha. W-Lowry (4-2). L-Ferrari (0-2).
Leading hitters-LCS: Jason Ellison, 2-2; Kyle Woods, 3b, 2 RBIs. Pepperdine: Jeremy Coronado, 2 RBIs; Damon Katz, 2 RBIs; Austin Evans, 2b, 2 RBIs.
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