Monday, April 30, 2001
UH hits the road The University of Hawaii baseball team leaves tonight for the final mainland road trip of the season with several hitters carrying hot bats.
with hot bats
Purtell, Kimura, Omori
By Al Chase
and Nogawa heat up at the
plate for the Rainbows
Star-BulletinThe Rainbows play a nonconference game at Sacramento State tomorrow, then head to high country for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series against the University of Nevada in Reno starting Thursday.
Hawaii (22-24, 10-17 WAC) has won its last two series over two solid teams, Rice and Oregon State.
At Nevada's William Peccole Park, double-digit scoring occurs on a regular basis. And the Wolf Pack are the team just ahead of the 'Bows in the WAC standings.
UH acting head coach Carl Furutani knows his offense will have to produce and he also will have to find a third starting pitcher. Sean Yamashita, who was knocked out in the second inning Saturday, is experiencing discomfort in his right elbow.
The Rainbows began the weekend with a .280 team batting average.
They raised it to .286 by hitting .348 in the OSU series.
Gregg Omori, Lane Nogawa, Danny Kimura and Matt Purtell were very productive at the plate. Reserves Nate Jackson and Ryan Anderson also had key hits.
Omori was 7-for-11 (.636), Nogawa went 6-for-11 (.545), Kimura continued making contact going 6-for-13 (.462) and Purtell was 6-for-14 (.429).
Anderson, the No. 3 catcher, hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer Saturday and came back to go 2-for-5 yesterday as the designated hitter. Jackson was 4-for-7 in the series and reached base four consecutive times is his first start of the season yesterday.
Jackson replaced Arthur Guillen in center field. Guillen was hit by a pitch on his batting helmet by his left ear Saturday and was given the day off as a precaution yesterday.
"That opened the door for us to get Nate out there. He has been looking better and better," Furutani said.
Jackson showed he hasn't lost the knack of roaming far and wide to track fly balls despite his long rehab from a foot injury suffered during the football season.
"To me, the foot is 100 percent. It's just that I'm a little out of shape because I haven't run in three or four months," Jackson said. "I really didn't get comfortable at the plate until we played Rice. Right now I feel real good."
Chad Giannetti had his third consecutive steady outing yesterday to even his record at 4-4. He left his off-speed pitch a little high early and the Beavers took advantage, but cruised through the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Oddly, in the ninth, he couldn't get his pitches up enough to be called strikes, walked two and gave up a single before Bryan Lee came in from the bullpen.
Lee surrendered five consecutive singles after being ahead on the count to four of those batters.
"We need to get Bryan more work. He's more effective that way," said Furutani, who isn't worried about the 'Bows closer.
Hawaii 12, Oregon State 9
Oregon State AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Stark, cf 2 0 1 1 Jackson cf 4 3 3 0 Hudson, ss 4 0 1 0 Purtell, ss 5 1 3 3 McBride ph 0 1 0 0 Omori, lf 2 2 1 1 Barden, 3b 5 0 0 0 Kimura, 3b 5 1 2 1 Biles, lf 5 1 1 2 Scalabrini pr 0 1 0 0 Davis, dh 4 3 3 0 Bock c 5 1 1 2 Carter, rf 5 1 2 0 Nogawa 2b 3 1 2 0 Jarvis, 1b 4 0 1 2 Gilbride lf 3 1 0 0 Ingram, c 3 0 0 1 Boudon ph 1 0 1 2 Stevens ph 1 1 1 1 Anderson dh 5 1 2 1 Gordon 2b 3 1 1 2 Montgomery, rf 5 0 0 0 Reynolds ph 2 1 1 0 Gianetti p 0 0 0 0 Johnson p 0 0 0 0 Lee p 0 0 0 0 Hays p 0 0 0 0 Rowe p 0 0 0 0 McLemore p 0 0 0 0 Totals 38 9 12 9 Totals 38 12 15 11
Oregon State 010 300 005 -- 9 12 3 Hawaii 001 117 02x -- 12 15 0 E--Hudson, Barden, Carter. LOB--OSU 9, UH 9. 2B--Stark; Davis (2); Reynolds; Kimura; Anderson. HR--Gordon. SB--Jackson (2), Purtell. CS--Purtell.
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO Johnson (L, 6-6) 5 8 6 5 1 3 Hays 13 3 4 4 1 1 Rowe 2 3 2 2 2 2 McLemore 23 1 0 0 0 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Giannetti (W, 4-4) 813 7 7 7 3 2 Lee 23 5 2 2 0 0 WP--Giannetti. HBP--by Johnson (Jackson), by Giannetti (Stark), by Johnson (Nogawa), by Giannetti (Davis).
Umpires--Frank Tomaszewski (home), Keoki Torres (third), Jerry Pittman (first).
T--3:25. A--2,665.
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