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Monday, May 15, 2000
Rainbows close
with loss to Vulcans
Hawaii-Hilo gives Estrella
UH lands another recruit By Al Chase
his 500th career win; Murakami's
fate to be decided tomorrow
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii baseball season ended with a loss last night, the same way the Rainbows began the 2000 campaign.
Left-hander Thomas Ford overcame early jitters to pitch the University of Hawaii at Hilo to a 7-2 Western Athletic Conference win at Rainbow Stadium.
The victory was the 500th for Vulcan head coach Joey Estrella in his 24-year career.
After the game, Hawaii coach Les Murakami said he will be told tomorrow by athletic director Hugh Yoshida whether his contract will be extended. His current contract expires June 30.
The defeat ended a six-game Rainbow winning streak and left them with a 28-28 record for the season. UH's 15-15 WAC record will be good for fourth place unless Texas Christian sweeps four games from Rice this weekend.
Last January, there was the promise of continued upward improvement, a chance for the Rainbows to build on the 1999 postseason appearance.The Western Athletic Conference baseball coaches validated the early expectations by picking Hawaii to finish second in the six-team league.
Three-game sweeps by Florida and UCLA and a 2-7 start didn't dull the expectations, but there were problems.
Outfielders Sean Takamori (academics) and Rah-Miel Mitchell (off-season injury) were out.
Scooter Martines injured his left shoulder in the season opener and missed several games.
Wakon Childers missed the season after having Tommy John surgery last fall. That left UH without a dominant closer.
"That hurt us," Hawaii head coach Les Murakami said. "Sean Yamashita did a creditable job. He threw 87-89 with a good breaking pitch but probably will be a starter in 2001."
Jamie Aloy began the season as the closer, but was needed more as a starter after the UCLA series.
Shortstop was a revolving door until senior Rory Pico was healthy enough to start 30 games.
"Pico gave us was better than anybody else we had even though he wasn't 100 percent," Murakami said.
The lineup finally showed some stability and UH won four consecutive games heading into the WAC opener against Rice.
Hawaii won two from the Owls, swept three from Texas Christian, then fared well on the first road trip, winning two of three games at Fresno State.
They returned home in first place with a 7-2 WAC record.
"I think the kids felt pretty good about themselves at that point," said Murakami.
However, the Rainbows would win just three of their next 15 conference games and be out of title contention halfway through the final road trip.
The three, four, five and six spots in the lineup stopped hitting, especially with teammates in scoring position.
"I can't remember having that many people at one time all of a sudden stop hitting," Murakami said. "It's hard to pinpoint why.
"Maybe they were trying too hard. It didn't make any difference who was there. I shuffled the lineup but still the key hit was missing."
Murakami started platooning in hopes of getting the hot bat in the lineup. However, players who suddenly got hot at the plate, went cold just as quickly.
The short game that had served the 'Bows so well in Fresno, disappeared when they returned to play San Jose State. Execution became an ordeal the rest of the season.
"It wasn't that they didn't play hard. They did," said Murakami.
"But it's not how hard you swing. We didn't do the small things like moving a runner up. And, suddenly, we couldn't bunt."
Rallies also died with questionable base running. UH may have set a record for runners picked off second base in a season.
Just when it seemed the injury bug had passed, Derek Honma, who had claimed the center field position, was hit in the face with a pitch and lost for eight weeks.
Takamori was hurt in a collision at home plate and didn't play on the Texas trip. He was 9-for-12 against Rice here.
In the second half of the season, the predominantly right-hand hitting lineup struggled, even against opposing left-handers.
With the team not hitting, there was more pressure on the pitchers to make fewer mistakes.
When a mistake was made, it often was magnified by an error on defense leaving the Rainbows in a hole too deep to hit out of.
In the end, the expectations became a burden, one that perhaps kept the 2000 Rainbows from playing up to their potential.
Rainbow bunts: Rainbow Stadium fans finally saw a Hawaii player hit a home run out of the park. Hilo's Brandon Chaves, who blasted a Rich Snider pitch over the right-field wall in the seventh inning. ... Manuel Olivera, a left-handed reliever, was given his release and will transfer to Southwest Texas State.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. San Jose State 17 10 .630 34 19 .642 Fresno State 17 10 .630 39 17 .696 Rice 16 10 .615 35 20 .636 Hawaii 15 15 .500 28 28 .500 Texas Christian 11 15 .423 20 31 .392 Hawaii-Hilo 7 23 .233 17 34 .333 Saturday's results
Hawaii 9, Hawaii-Hilo 6
Rice 10, San Jose State 3 (1st game)
Rice 7, San Jose State 2 (2nd game)
Fresno State 6, Nebraska 1Yesterday's results
Hawaii-Hilo 7, Hawaii 2
Rice 10, San Jose State 2
Nebraska 8, Fresno State 0Friday's games
Rice at Texas Christian
Fresno State at San Jose StateSaturday's games
Rice at Texas Christian (2)
Fresno State at San Jose StateSunday's games
Rice at Texas Christian
Fresno State at San Jose State
End regular season
Vulcans 7, Rainbows 2
Hawaii-Hilo ab r h bi Hawaii ab r h bi Petersen rf 4 1 0 0 Honma rf-cf 4 0 0 0 Rooke cf 5 2 2 1 Jackson cf 2 0 0 0 Ryan 2b 2 1 1 1 Chan ph-lf 1 0 0 0 Park dh 2 0 0 0 Aloy 1b 4 1 2 0 Yap ph 1 0 1 1 Wakakuwa c 3 0 0 0 Lynch ph 1 0 0 0 Kimura 3b 4 1 3 1 Yee 1b 4 1 3 2 Nogawa ss 3 0 0 0 Robbins ph 1 0 0 0 Pico ph 1 0 0 0 Rayl 1b 0 0 0 0 Baker lf 3 0 0 1 Chaves ss 3 1 1 2 Takamori dh 3 0 1 0 Hobbs 3b 2 0 0 0 Purtell 2b 4 0 1 0 Sanchez 3b 2 0 0 0 McCracken c 4 1 1 0 Miura lf 4 0 1 0
Hawaii-Hilo............... 100 030 300 - 7 10 1 Hawaii...................... 001 000 001 - 2 7 2 E-Ryan (8), Nogawa (10), Snider (4).
DP-UHH 2 (Sanchez-Ryan-Yee, Ryan-Chaves-Rayl). LOB-UHH 7, UH 7.
2B-Kimura 2 (11). 3B-McCracken (2), Aloy (3), Takamori (2). HR-Chaves (3). CS-Jackson (4). S-Ryan (7), SF-Ryan (2), Yap (1) Baker (2).
WP-Ford (9), Snider (7). HBP-Wakakuwa (by Ford).
ip h r er bb so Hawaii-Hilo Ford (W, 5-6) 9 7 2 1 2 6 Hawaii Snider (L, 6-9) 7 9 7 3 3 4 Giannetti 1 0 0 0 0 1 Lee 1 1 0 0 0 0
Umpires-Ogawa (plate), Montalbo (first), LeBeau (third). T-2:20. A-1,178.
Craig Johnson became the third high school player to commit to the 2001 University of Hawaii baseball team when he signed a letter of intent Friday. UH lands
another recruitA 6-foot, 175-pound outfielder, Johnson plays for Porterville (Calif.) High School, coached by former Rainbow Thad Reece.
A left-handed hitter with decent power, Johnson also has played first base and been used in middle relief.
Recruiting left-hand hitters for a more balanced batting order is one of Rainbow head coach Les Murakami's top priorities.
"Craig gets a really good jump on the ball. I would compare him to a left-handed Ricki Bass and Ricki never made an error," Reece said.
"Anything hit to center or in the alleys is an out. Craig hits the ball to all fields and he really put on a show when coach Les came to watch him play." Johnson hit .420 as a junior and is batting .350 with four home runs and 19 runs batted in this year for the 18-7 Panthers.
"Defensively, he can help the Rainbows right away. But, I remember how I struggled at the plate making the transition from high school to college ball my freshman year, so we'll see how Craig adjusts," Reece said.
"He will play summer ball and he's on a team that plays a lot of games. He's a hard worker and I wouldn't send anyone over there that isn't."
Johnson also played football and basketball. He has earned honors in all three sports. He is a California Interscholastic Federation Scholar-Athlete of the Year winner and Porterville's Athlete of the Year.
Tim Montgomery, an outfielder from Redmond, Wash., and Cortland Wilson, a shortstop from Sandy, Utah, signed with Hawaii last fall.
By Al Chase
