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Wednesday, January 24, 2001

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Les Murakami during media day just over a year ago. The
coach of 30 years, who is currently on medical leave, had
announced prior to a recent stroke that he was
retiring after this season.

Murakami
no longer coach
of record

Rainbow Baseball Notebook

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By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

The record compiled by the Hawaii baseball team in 2001 will belong to acting head coach Carl Furutani.

With head coach Les Murakami on medical leave recovering from a stroke, Markus Owens, assistant sports media relations director, asked the NCAA which coach should be credited with this season's won-lost record.

"They said basically it's up to the school," said Owens. "If a coach were to miss a game or two, those results would still be his. Since we don't know when or if Coach Les will be back, this year's record belongs to Carl."

Murakami's 30-year record is 1,079-570-4. Had he been able to coach this year, he would have started the season 11th among active coaches in victories and 28th in winning percentage (.654).

Murakami is 19th on the NCAA Division I all-time victory list, one of 22 head coaches to record 1,000 or more career wins. During his tenure, he fares well (300-267-2) with 28 of the top 40 all-time winningest coaches.

NCAA Division I head baseball coaches

All-time winningest coaches by victories through 2000, minimum 10 years as a Division I coach, record at four-year colleges only:

No.	Coach, school	Years	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.
1.	Cliff Gustafson, Texas	29	1,427	373	2	.792
2.	Rod Dedeaux, Southern California	45	1,332	571	11	.699
3.	Augie Garrido, Texas (a)	32	1,287	625	8	.672
4.	Chuck Hartman, Virginia Tech (a)	41	1,276	651	7	.662
5.	Gene Stephenson, Wichita St. (a)	23	1,268	381	3	.768
6	Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)	30	1,271	438	9	.742
7.	Jack Stallings, Georgia Southern	39	1,258	796	5	.612
8.	Larry Hays, Texas Tech (a)	30	1,235	666	1	.650
9.	Bob Bennett, Fresno St. (a)	32	1,227	705	8	.635
10.	Al Ogletree, Texas-Pan American	41	1,217	713	1	.631
11.	Larry Cochell, Oklahoma (a)	34	1,186	679	2	.636
12.	Chuck "Bobo" Brayton, Washington St.	33	1,162	523	8	.689
13.	Bill Wilhelm, Clemson	36	1,161	536	10	.683
14.	Jim Dietz, San Diego St. (a)	29	1,153	702	18	.620
15.	Mike Martin, Florida St. (a)	21	1,132	383	3	.747
16.	Jim Brock, Arizona St.	23	1,100	440	0	.714
17.	Norm DeBriyn, Arkansas (a)	31	1,099	593	6	.648
18.	Richard "Itchy" Jones, Illinois (a)	34	1,099	623	5	.637
19.	Les Murakami, Hawaii	30	1,079	570	4	.654
20.	Ron Polk, Georgia (a)	27	1,076	512	0	.678
21.	Bob Hannah, Delaware	36	1,054	463	6	.694
22.	Gary Adams, UCLA (a)	31	1,053	770	12	.577
23.	Mark Marquess, Stanford (a)	24	995	498	5	.666
24.	Gary Ward, New Mexico St. (a)	19	953	313	1	.753
25.	John Winkin, Maine	42	934	670	11	.582
26.	Jim "Skip" Wilson, Temple (a)	41	929	679	27	.576
27.	Bob Morgan, Indiana (a)	25	926	453	5	.671
28.	Jay Bergman, Central Florida (a)	24	921	526	3	.636
29.	Mike Sheppard, Seton Hall (a)	28	916	465	10	.662
30.	Gary Pullins, Brigham Young	23	913	464	6	.662
31.	Jim Ward, Eastern Kentucky (a)	32	912	683	5	.572
32.	Bob Warn, Indiana St. (a)	25	902	569	10	.612
33.	Duane Banks, Iowa	30	901	585	4	.606
34.	Bob Miller, Detroit	36	891	757	3	.541
35.	Ray Mewbourne, Vanderbilt (a)	28	873	623	9	.583
36.	John Skeeters, Sam Houston St. (a)	28	861	603	4	.586
37.	Jerry Kindall, Arizona	24	861	578	6	.598
38.	Enos Semore, Oklahoma	22	851	370	1	.697
39.	Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.) (a)	19	844	351	2	.706
40.	John Cunningham, U. of San Deigo	35	842	841	20	.500

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RAINBOW BASEBALL PLAYBOOK

vs. Cal State
Sacramento Hornets

First pitch -- Tomorrow and Friday, 6:35 p.m.; Saturday 1:05 p.m., Rainbow Stadium.

Coaches -- Hawaii: Carl Furutani, first season (0-0, .000); Cal State Sacramento: John Smith, 23rd season (648-580, .528).

Season -- Hawaii (0-0); Cal State Sacramento (0-0).

Series -- Hawaii leads the series, 29-11. Last meeting -- The Rainbows defeated the Hornets, 13-1, in Stockton, March 15, 2000, after sweeping a three-game series in Honolulu earlier in the season.

Probable starting pitchers -- Hawaii: Right-hander Jeff Coleman (Jr., all conference pitcher for Mt. San Antonio College the past two seasons); right-hander Sean Yamashita (Jr., 4-1, 2.93 ERA in 2000, and right-hander Gavin Garrick (Sr., 1-1, 4.93). ... Cal State Sacramento: Right-hander Steve Cuckovich (So., 6-foot-2, 5.13 ); right-hander Michael Penbera (Sr., 2-2, 4.32); Mike Miranda (Sr., 4-6, 4.81 for Cincinnati), or left-hander Casey Fuller (Jr., 1-2, 10.66 for Mississippi).

Top position players -- Hawaii: First baseman Danny Kimura (Sr., .297 batting average, 43 RBIs in 2000); third baseman Patrick Scalabrini (Sr., .289, 31 RBIs), and second baseman/designated hitter Gregg Omori (Jr., .326, 46 RBIs at USF in 1999). ... Cal State Sacramento: Second baseman Cory Williams (Sr., .356, 29 RBIs); first baseman Tim Maghan (Sr., .327, 20 RBIs, and center fielder Aurelio Jackson (Sr., .306, 26 RBIs, 17 stolen bases).

Keys -- The Hornets have been practicing here since last Thursday, so they know Rainbow Stadium. Coach Smith has six weeks to get his team ready for Big West Conference action and may be more willing to experiment. Yet, both coaches want to start the 2001 season in positive fashion. ... Coach Furutani has half that time and nine games to fine tune the 'Bows for the conference season. He has promised seven pitchers a chance to earn a spot in the starting rotation. With pitch limits in force early, they will all get a shot over the next three weekends. The overall development of the pitching staff will be all important for Hawaii with Rainbow Stadium being less friendly by 15 feet, the distance the outfield fence was moved in. The Rainbows aren't built for power, so the hitters have to stay with the contact game and let the home runs come naturally, instead of forcing the issue.

Also of note -- The Rainbows' only non-conference road game this season will be against the Hornets, Feb. 21, in Sacramento. It will be the first of a seven-game trip that has UH visiting WAC opponents Fresno State and San Jose State. ... Hawaii center fielder Nate Jackson will miss the season because he is having surgery on his left foot. He expects to be ready for the football season. Reliever Ian Jones will redshirt this year. He had off-season arm surgery and has not fully recovered. ... This is the 10th time in the last 11 years that Cal State Sacramento has played here. ... Two other WAC teams open this weekend with three-game series. Fresno State is at Stanford and Nevada visits Pacific.

On the air -- All three games live on KCCN (1420 AM); Friday and Saturday games live on KFVE (Channel 5)

RealAudio: 'Net broadcast Click Here

Tickets -- $6 orange and blue sections, $5 red section. $4 senior citizens (65 and over),students 4-18 and UH students with valid ID. Available at the Stan Sheriff Center, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Rainbow Stadium box office opens one hour prior to all games. Parking: $3.

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Al Chase, Star-Bulletin