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Friday, February 16, 2001
Rainbows win For at least a day, the University of Hawaii Rainbows are right where they want to be at season's end, atop the Western Athletic Conference baseball standings.
WAC baseball
opener
Three UH pitchers combine
to hold Nevada to
four hitsRealAudio: 'Net broadcast Click Here
By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin
However, there are 35 more conference games to play and the 'Bows really just feel good about winning their league opener, a 5-2 decision over Nevada, at Rainbow Stadium last night.
Three Hawaii pitchers held the University of Nevada Wolf Pack (2-8 overall, 1-3 WAC) to four hits.
Neither starter Jeff Coleman nor reliever Wakon Childers were pleased with their performances, but they survived.
Chad Boudon's fourth home run this year jump-started UH in the second inning and the Rainbows never trailed in the victory witnessed by 559 fans.
Coleman was making his fourth start as a Rainbow and looking for his first Division I win. He encountered first inning trouble, the norm for him, but threw a double-play ball to escape damage.
"When you don't have your stuff, it changes your outlook on the game," said Coleman. "You don't feel you can come back with anything at any time because you don't have it. I did my best to keep the ball down and get ground balls."
Coleman induced Wolf Pack batters to hit eight on the ground in the seven innings he worked.
His one big mistake came in the fourth inning when Chris Nickerson belted a one-strike pitch over the left-center field fence for a two-run homer. It followed the fourth of six walks issued by Coleman.
Childers came in to pitch the eighth inning and he walked two.
"It was a pretty bad performance. I wasn't happy with it at all," said the senior right-hander who is coming off Tommy John surgery. "My location was bad. I still haven't cut loose with the fastball. I pretty much threw the slider. "
Bryan Lee pitched a perfect ninth and UH acting head coach Carl Furutani won't hesitate to bring Lee back tonight.
"Bryan gets better the more days in a row he pitches," Furutani said.
The start of the game was delayed 31 minutes when fuses blew on two light poles. Furutani said it wasn't an excuse for Coleman, but it's tough for a starting to warm up, sit down for the delay and warm up again.
UH took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third on Patrick Scalabrini's RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Danny Kimura.
Boudon got his second RBI with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Consecutive doubles by pinch hitter Ryan Anderson, his first college hit, and Scalabrini scored UH's final run.
In the third inning, Nevada head coach Gary Powers was ejected by first base umpire Frank Tomaszewski for arguing a safe call on a potential double play.
In the fifth inning, Hawaii's Matt Purtell was caught in a rundown between first and second and collided with Nevada first baseman JaRell McIntyre.
They briefly flailed at each other while the benches emptied, but order was restored. Both players were ejected and are suspended for tonight's game at 6:35 p.m.
Rainbows 5, Wolf Pack 2
Nevada ab r h bi Hawaii ab r h bi Dickerson rf 4 0 0 0 Purtell dh 1 1 0 0 Maguire ss 2 0 0 0 Anderson ph 1 0 1 0 Hass cf 2 0 0 0 Nogawa pr 0 1 0 0 McIntyre 1b 2 0 0 0 Scalabrini 3b 4 0 2 2 Curtis ph-1b 2 0 1 0 Omori 2b 4 1 1 0 Bryant dh 3 0 0 0 Kimura 1b 3 0 1 1 Cappuccilli ph 0 0 0 0 Boudon lf 3 1 1 2 Rangel 3b 3 1 1 0 Bock c 4 0 1 0 Nickerson lf 4 1 2 2 Montgomery rf 3 0 0 0 Ryan 2b 3 0 0 0 Wilson ss 2 1 0 0 Popoff c 3 0 0 0 Chan cf 2 0 0 0 Laidlaw ph 1 0 0 0 Guillen cf 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 2 4 2 Totals 27 5 7 5
Nevada 000 200 000 -- 2 4 0 Hawaii 012 001 10x -- 5 7 0 DP-UH 1 (Coleman-Wilson-Kimura). LOB-Nevada 8, UH 4.
2B-Nickerson (3), Anderson (1), Scalabrini (5), Omori (6). HR-Nickerson (3), Boudon (4). SB-Scalabrini (4), Omori (1), Wilson (2), Chan (1). CS-Purtell (1), Bock (2). S-Maguire (4). SF-Kimura (1), Boudon (3).
Nevada
ip h r er bb so Mackintosh (L, 1-2) 6 2/3 6 5 5 2 7 Price 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 0
Hawaii
ip h r er bb so Coleman (W, 1-1) 7 4 2 2 5 4 Childers 1 0 0 0 2 1 Lee (S, 2) 1 0 0 0 0 1 WP-Macintosh (4), Coleman (2). PB-Bock (3). HBP-Purtell 2 (by Mackintosh 2).
Umpires-Montalbo (plate), Tomaszewski (first), Marpel (third). T-2:37. A-559.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
