SHREVEPORT, La. >> Waipahu High School graduate Jerome Williams pitched well last night in his first home start of the season for the Shreveport Swamp Dragons, getting his first victory of the year for the San Francisco Giants' Double-A affiliate. Waipahu’s Williams gets
first victory of seasonBut Williams, in his third season of professional baseball, was more excited about his first pro at-bats.
"I went 0-for-2, but I hit the ball well," he said. "Lined out to center and flied out to left."
The Giants are much more interested in what the 19-year-old righty does from the mound. Last night he went five innings and allowed just one hit -- a solo home run -- and one walk. He struck out three in Shreveport's 12-1 victory over El Paso.
"I left a fastball up," Williams said of his one mistake. "But for the most part, I was keeping the fastball in a lot, and it helped set up the curve."
Williams said he was on a 65-pitch limit. After missing most of spring training, he has pitched twice, giving up only one run in eight innings for a 1.13 ERA.
His next start is Monday, as Shreveport hosts Midland.
Benny Agbayani, Mets: The St. Louis School alumnus went 1-4 in his team's 7-2 loss at Milwaukee. Agbayani killed a Mets' rally in the first inning when he grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. Hawaii's own
"I got lucky to get the double play and out of that inning," Milwaukee pitcher Jimmy Haynes said. "After that I threw pretty good, I think."
The former HPU standout's batting average dropped to .364 on the season.
Mike Fetters, Dodgers: The Iolani School graduate did not pitch.
Chris Truby, Astros: The Damien Memorial High School graduate went 1-4 with a single and a strikeout in Houston's 11-3 home loss to Atlanta. Truby is currently hitting .254.
The Hawaii Pacific softball team knows it's the state's lone entrant in next weekend's Pacific West Conference postseason tournament, but the Sea Warriors still don't know where they'll be playing. [SMALL COLLEGES]
HPU in postseason,
By Brandon Lee
but tourney host
still undecided
Special to the Star-BulletinAs the Pacific Division champion, HPU (33-13, 18-6 PacWest) received one of the PacWest's two automatic bids to the four-team tournament.
The Sea Warriors won their third consecutive division title at the expense of Brigham Young-Hawaii, Chaminade and University of Hawaii-Hilo, who are finished with their seasons.
The West Division champion will receive the other automatic bid and host the tournament, with the field completed by two at-large entrants.
But unlike the Pacific Division, the West race hasn't been completed.
The division championship is still up for grabs, and therefore, the Sea Warriors' destination for the tournament next Friday and Saturday, is still undetermined.
Western Washington (29-15, 13-4) holds the division lead over second-place Humboldt State (41-10, 11-4); one of the two will win the West and host. If Western Washington wins its final two games, the Vikings are the division champions, but if not, the Lumberjacks can secure the title by winning their final four games. Western Washington wins in the event of a tie by virtue of taking the season series.
Nevertheless, Humboldt State is the only team besides HPU that has clinched a playoff spot. The top two non-division winners in the power rankings (as determined by the complex Strength of Schedule Index) from either the Pacific or West Divisions get the at-large berths.
Because they have an insurmountable advantage in the power rankings, the Lumberjacks have clinched at least an at-large spot.
Humboldt State hosts a doubleheader against Central Washington tomorrow before finishing Sunday with a twinbill against Seattle.
The Vikings host Saint Martin's in a doubleheader for its final two regular-season contests Saturday.
Still in contention for at-large berths, but not division championships, are Western New Mexico from the Pacific Division and Western Oregon from the West.
Academic team chosen
The PacWest Softball Academic All-Star Team was announced yesterday. To be eligible, student-athletes must have a minimum 3.20 GPA and be in their second year of competition at their university.Players from Hawaii schools who made the 31-player team are: Alisha Durrette (3.61 GPA, junior, psychology), Margaret Reynolds (3.60, Jr., math education) and Tami Layton (3.52, Sr., exercise & sports science) from BYUH; Melisha Ausua (3.91, Sr., economics), Shanelle Yamane (3.88, So., accounting), Amber Bareswill (3.46, So., history) and Melissa Marquez (3.40, Jr., history/psychology) from Chaminade; Rachel Loo (3.39, Sr., political science) from Hilo; and Samee Fernandez (3.54, Sr., psychology), Kristin Fujii (3.54, So., business administration) and Alisa Iloreta (3.39, So., psychology) from Hawaii Pacific.
Vulcans on road
Hawaii-Hilo's baseball team travels to Fresno State for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series Saturday through Monday.The Vulcans (5-31, 3-19) look to rebound from a non-conference, two-game sweep at the hands of Hawaii Pacific last Sunday. Last weekend's doubleheader was the season finale for the Sea Warriors, who finished 20-24.
Hawaii-Hilo signs two
Two basketball players from Saddleback College (Calif.) have signed to play for Hilo.Garreth Read is a 6-foot-9 center who averaged 5.2 points and 5.8 rebounds last season. Adrian Aguayo, a 6-4 swingman, averaged 14.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
They join 6-3 swingman Derek Mgbeke of Los Angeles City College in the Vulcans' recruiting class.