Seminoles take 3 of 4 from UH
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
The Florida State Seminoles showed Hawaii's baseball fans why they came to town with a No. 2 preseason ranking. They did nothing to tarnish the expectations that go with such a lofty rank.
The Seminoles (6-1) received outstanding performances from their four starting pitchers, compiled a .368 batting average in taking three of the four games from Hawaii and made just three errors in the field.
The FSU staff was most effective when facing the heart of the Rainbow lineup. The Nos. 3, 4 and 5 UH hitters were a combined 5-for-40 in the series.
Yesterday, before 1,296 sun-drenched Murakami Stadium fans, the first five Seminoles to face UH freshman right-hander Jason Piepmeier reached base and eventually scored. The final tally was 12-1, FSU.
The quick 5-0 lead negated what the Hawaii coaches have been preaching all week, that is to set the tone in the first inning. The only time the Rainbows (1-3) held a lead in the series was on the final play of Wednesday night's victory.
Piepmeier's tenure on the mound lasted seven batters and 25 pitches. He walked two and gave up four hits, including Nick Rogers' second homer of the season, a three-run shot over the left-field fence.
"It's tough when you are a freshman and you are thrown in against one of the best teams in the country," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Jason's pitches were up and he was thinking velocity.
"If a pitcher goes with the right approach, keeps the ball down and forces contact in three pitches, we'll go to war for them. I waited until the eighth inning to talk with Jason after he cooled down. I told him he had a long way to go, but we still had confidence in him."
Trapasso showed the deficit on the scoreboard won't affect his aggressive style of baseball. When Brent Cook walked in the bottom of the first, he was off and running and stole second to get into scoring position.
Cortland Wilson opened the third with a single. The hit-and-run was on for the next batter, Danny Mocny, who made good contact, but his line drive was caught by FSU third baseman Kevin Richmond at his shoe tops and turned into a double play.
Mocny would drive in the UH run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, an inning in which the Rainbows loaded the bases with one out on singles by Brian Bock, Kevin Gilbride and Wilson.
Except for Tony McQuade's home run in the fifth, senior left-hander Aaron Pribble did a commendable job out of the bullpen in relief of Piepmeier.
"He dominated those guys. He had them confused on what they wanted to do," Trapasso said.
Pribble mixed his fastball, change-up and slider well. He did not walk anyone and fanned eight Seminoles. Pribble was closing in on his 90-pitch limit in the eighth inning when the Seminoles reached him for four hits.
"I have a bad taste in my mouth because we lost," Pribble said. "I was pleased that I could keep the ball down and throw my change-up for strikes. I think I got strikeouts with all my pitches, but the change-up was my best pitch."
When Pribble ran into trouble in the eighth, Trapasso wanted to bring Chris George in, but George said he was still tender after throwing an inning in Thursday's game.
"We had to go to the bottom of the bullpen, and that's when the circus started," Trapasso said.
Rogers cleared the bases again, this time with a three-run double into the left-field corner to highlight the six-run inning.
Trapasso was pleased with three facets of the UH game -- the bullpen, the base running and the defense. The Rainbows committed just two errors, none in the final two games.
The 1-3 start may not be what the Rainbows were hoping for, but they won't be playing the No. 2 ranked team every weekend.
Notes: The attendance, fans who actually came out to Murakami Stadium, totaled 7,543, for an average of 1,886 per game. The athletic department issued 12,467 tickets for the four-game series. ... Next up is a three-game series with Sacramento State that begins Friday night.
Florida St. 12, Hawaii 1
| Florida St. |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Zech 2b |
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
Guillen cf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Smith rf |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Cook 3b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Hart ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Omori 1b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Toole rf |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Boudon lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Rogers cf |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Magana ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Barthelemy 1b4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
Bock c |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| McQuade lf |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Honma ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Futrell dh |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Gilbride rf |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Cheesman ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Johnson rf |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Richmond 3b |
5 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
Nogawa 2b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Richie c |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Wilson ss |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| McCaleb c |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Carlson ss |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Probst ss |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Mocny dh |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Totals |
41 |
12 |
16 |
4 |
Totals |
31 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
| Florida St. |
500 |
010 |
060 |
-- |
12 |
16 |
0 |
| Hawaii |
000 |
010 |
000 |
-- |
1 |
8 |
0 |
E--none. DP--Florida St. 2 (Richmond-Barthlemy, Richmond-Zech-Barthelemy), Hawaii 0. LOB--Florida St. 7, Hawaii 5. 2B--Smith, Rogers, Barthlemy, Richie. 3B--nine. HR--Rogers, McQuade. SH--Putrell. SF--Mocny. SB--Cook. CS--Cook.
| Florida St. |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Read (W, 2-0) |
7.0 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
| Peterson |
1.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Whidden |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Piepmeier |
0.1 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
| Pribble (L, 0-1) |
7.1 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
8 |
| Morita |
0.0 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
| Rhode |
1.1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
WP--Read. PB--Bock. HBP--none. Umpires--HP: Don Geman, 1B: Mike Evans, 3B: Gary Montalbo. T--2:38. A--1,296.
