Saturday, February 16, 2002
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’Bows hit on After Tuesday's intrasquad scrimmage, Hawaii assistant coach Josh Sorge was beaming. The Rainbows had hit very well, including three home runs in the six-inning workout.
all cylinders
Hawaii beats UCLA with
14-hit attack in series openerBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com"I saw the light at the end of the tunnel today," Sorge said after the scrimmage.
That light shown a little brighter last night as the Rainbows delivered 14 hits and defeated the UCLA Bruins 6-4 in the opener of a three-game series before 1,587 Murakami Stadium fans.
Cortland Wilson hit the first Rainbow home run of the season, Brent Cook was 5-for-5 at the plate and Arthur Guillen had two runs batted in.
After a shaky first, right-hander Bryan Lee settled down and pitched eight innings of solid ball. He walked none and struck out four.
"I didn't feel comfortable in the beginning but I got more comfortable as the game went on. For me, being comfortable is hitting my spots," Lee said. "Tonight, my change-up was working well. I got a lot of swings on that."
UH coach Mike Trapasso thought Lee was feeling his way in the first inning when he needed 24 pitches to retire the Bruins.
"I thought the most important inning was the seventh when he put a zero on the scoreboard after we scored three in the bottom of the sixth," Trapasso said. "I kept telling the kids we have a lead, go out there and play to win, don't play not to lose."
The Bruins (7-4) mounted a rally in the ninth and scored twice off reliever Sean Yamashita, but the senior right-hander fanned Matt Thayer to end the game with a runner on second base.
"You want to win the first game of a series. Now we just have to come out and play the same way," Trapasso said. "I'm impressed with their club, but this was our best game of the year. We did all the things we needed to do."
The Bruins broke on top in the first inning when Thayer and Brandon Averill greeted Lee with singles to center and right fields, respectively. Lee balked the runners to second and third, and Thayer scored on Josh Arhart's groundout.
The Rainbows took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. UCLA shortstop Preston Griffin bobbled Kevin Gilbride's grounder allowing the UH right fielder to reach first with one out. Lane Nogawa singled to right, sending Gilbride to second.
After Brian Bock flied out to left, Guillen hit a one-hop double off the left-field wall on a 2-0 pitch that scored both runners for a 2-1 UH lead.
UCLA tied the score at 2 all in the top of the fourth when Adam Berry drove an outside pitch from Lee over the right-field wall just inside the foul pole.
The Rainbows (3-5) had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the inning when Wilson beat out a bunt toward third and continued to second on UCLA third baseman Kevin Conlin's throwing error.
Gilbride sacrificed Wilson to third, but UCLA starter Chris Cordeiro retired Nogawa on a fly to short right and got Bock to foul out to his catcher on the first pitch.
Hawaii didn't waste another opportunity in the fifth inning, taking a 3-2 lead. Danny Mocny drew a one-out walk, stole second and moved to third on Cook's single to right. Gregg Omori lifted Cordeiro's first pitch high to center field and Mocny scored on the sacrifice fly.
Wilson belted Hawaii's first home run of the season to lead off the sixth inning. He also drove an outside pitch over the right-field wall. It came in the Rainbows 269th official plate appearance of the season.
Gilbride followed with a line single to right which ended Cordeiro's night on the mound. Kevin Jerkens came on in relief.
Nogawa's sacrifice bunt advanced Gilbride to second. He scored when Bock grounded a ball just inside the third-base bag that went for a double. Guillen's single to left moved Bock to third and he scored when Cook beat out a high bouncer to short for his fourth single of the game.
Cook singled again in the eighth.
"I got some high bounces and was just finding the holes tonight. I don't think I've ever done that before," Cook said. "I haven't been feeling as comfortable as I would like at the plate, but we had a good week of practice and people came out tonight and did their job."
Hawaii 6, UCLA 4
UCLA AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Thayer cf 5 1 3 0 Mocny df 3 1 0 0 Averill lf 4 0 1 0 Cook 3b 5 0 5 1 Arhart c 4 0 0 1 Omori 1b 4 0 1 1 Janssen 1b 4 0 1 0 Martinez lf 4 0 1 0 Berry rf 4 2 2 1 Honma lf 0 0 0 0 Whisler dh 4 0 2 0 Wilson ss 4 1 2 1 Lewis pr 0 1 0 0 Gilbride rf 3 2 1 0 Conlin 3b 4 0 2 0 Nogawa 2b 3 1 1 0 Rasmussen 2b 3 0 0 1 Bock c 4 1 1 1 Griffin ss 3 0 1 0 Guillen cf 4 0 2 2 Francisco ph 1 0 1 1 Lee p 0 0 0 0 Cordeiro p 0 0 0 0 Yamashita p 0 0 0 0 Jerkens p 0 0 0 0 Totals 36 4 134 Totals 34 6 14 6 UCLA 100 100 002 -- 4 13 2 Hawaii 020 013 10x -- 6 14 0 E--Conlin, Griffin DP--UCLA 1, Hawaii 1. LOB--UCLA 6, Hawaii 9. 2B--Francisco, Omori, Bock. HR--Berry, Wilson. SB--Mocny, Guillen.
UCLA IP H R ER BB SO Cordeiro (L, 1-1) 5.0 9 5 3 1 1 Jerkens 3.0 5 1 1 1 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Lee (W, 2-0) 8.0 10 2 2 0 4 Yamashita 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 WP--none. HBP--none. Umpires--Jim LeBeau (first), Don Greman (third), Gary Montalbo (plate).
T--2:28. A--1,587
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