Rice roughs up
the Rainbows
Baugh baffles UH;
rematch tonight
By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin
Nationally ranked Rice and All-American pitcher Kenny Baugh are hardly ideal welcome-home gifts for any baseball team, particularly Hawaii, which is coming off a winless road trip and seven straight losses.
Baugh and the third-ranked Owls were exactly who was waiting for the Rainbows and 851 fans last night at Rainbow Stadium, and they proved to be more of a ticking time bomb than a care package, defeating Hawaii, 10-4.
Baugh didn't have his best stuff last night, but still pitched six solid innings, allowing four hits while striking out 10 for his fourth victory against no losses. Rice remained unbeaten in Western Athletic Conference play at 7-0. They're 17-3 overall.
Hawaii dropped its eighth straight in falling to 2-8, 7-12. The Rainbows have another shot to end their skid tonight at 6:35 in the second game of the three-game series.
"Kenny Baugh is a great pitcher," UH acting coach Carl Furutani said.
"He struggled a little bit tonight, but he made pitches when he had to make them. We didn't capitalize and we played a little tight."
The Rainbows went with first-time starter Matt Le Ducq on the mound, and the Owls jumped on him right away. After Hunter Brown doubled home two runs in the top of the first, Billy Jacobson singled home another in the second just before Enrique Cruz hit a two-run homer over the left field fence for a 5-0 Rice lead.
Le Ducq gave up another two-run blast to Eric Arnold in the fourth for a 7-1 Rice lead. Arnold led the Owls' offensive attack with hits in all three of his at-bats and he scored three runs. Le Ducq was pulled after the inning for Chris Quiroz.
"I felt confident going into the game, there were no jitters," Le Ducq said. "But you leave pitches up, you'll get hit hard."
Quiroz didn't fare much better in his one inning of work, giving up an RBI triple to Matt Fox and an RBI single to Phillip Ghutzman. In all, Hawaii used six pitchers on the night, and the last four relievers were able to keep the Owls hitless.
The Rainbows' best scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth when they loaded the bases with no outs.
But Baugh got two quick outs before Cortland Wilson grounded an sharp run-scoring single between the first and second basemen. Jacob Flick tried to score from second base for another run on the play, but was thrown out at home to end the inning.
"On that play, I felt we're not hitting, we got to try something," Furutani said. "It was a close enough play that you send the guy home."
Reliever Jeff Nichols pitched three innings for the save. He gave up two earned runs, including a solo blast to pinch hitter Aaron Pribble in the ninth.
Owls 10, Rainbows 4
| Rice |
ab |
r |
h |
bi |
Hawaii |
ab |
r |
h |
bi |
|
| Cruz 2b |
6 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Purtell cf |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Porfiric cf |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Gilbride ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Arnold lf |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
Scalabrini 3b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Brown 3b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
Pribble ph |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Cunningham dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Omori 2b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Davis ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Anderson ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Roman 1b |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Kimura 1b |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Fox ss |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
Boudon lf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Ghurzman c |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Flick c |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Jacobson rf |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Nogawa dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Lorsbach ph/rf |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Montgomer rf |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Baugh p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Wilson ss |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Nichols p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Guillen ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals |
38 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
Le Ducq p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Quiroz p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Giannetti p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Quaglieri p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Yamamoto p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Garrick p |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
34 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
| Rice |
|
230 |
220 |
010 -- 10 |
10 |
1 |
| Hawaii |
|
001 |
100 101 -- |
4 |
7 |
2 |
E-Brown, Scalabrini, Wilson.
DP-UH 1. LOB-Rice 9, UH 8.
2B-Brown, Fox. 3B-Fox. HR-Cruz, Arnold, Pribble.
SB-Porfirio, Arnold 2, Brown 2, Montgomery. CS-Purtell.
Rice
| |
ip |
h |
r |
er |
bb |
so |
| Baugh (W, 4-0) |
6 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
10 |
| Nichols (Sv, 1) |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
Hawaii
| |
ip |
h |
r |
er |
bb |
so |
| Le Ducq (L, 1-1) |
4 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
| Quiroz |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
| Giannetti |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Quaglieri |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Yamamoto |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
| Garrick |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
WP-Nichols, Quiroz. BK-Nichols.
HBP-Scalabrini (by Nichols).
Umpires-Speck (plate), Moncalbo (first), Start (third). T-2:48. A-851.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
