’Bows fall to Owls again
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
Steve Herce overcame a rainy first inning and a preoccupation with dirt in his spikes to pitch eight creditable innings for Rice last night before a crowd of 1,523 at Murakami Stadium.
The No. 4 Owls won the Western Athletic Conference game 6-3 and took the best-of-three series, which concludes with a game today that starts at 1:05 p.m.
Rice collected 14 hits and had runners on base in every inning except the seventh. The Owls also turned three double plays in support of Herce.
The Owls dispatched UH starter Chris George after 3 2/3 innings. He used 77 pitches, 43 of which were strikes, to get that far. The junior right-hander gave up nine hits, walked three and was rarely ahead in the count, not a good situation against a team like Rice.
"I feel good, everything is fine, but I don't think my mechanics are there yet," said George. "I wasn't fatigued, but I got a couple of balls up and they smoked them."
In a 42-minute first inning, both teams had bases-loaded situations but failed to cash in big time, although the Rainbows fashioned a 2-1 lead.
Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso has talked often about setting the tone early in the game. the Rainbows (7-11 overall, 0-2 WAC) had that opportunity in the first inning, but didn't take full advantage.
"There's no doubt about that," said Trapasso. "The funny thing is I like the direction we're going. We're playing with a much better approach offensively than we have the past two weeks. We're laying off the bad pitches. So. we're getting guys on base, but still miss the big hit.
"I didn't think Herce would last, but, give him credit, he settled down once the rain stopped."
Rice (14-4, 2-0) regained the lead, 3-2, in the second on three consecutive hits. A.J. Porfirio and Justin Ruchti opened the inning with singles, moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Kolkhorst and scored on Austin Davis' first-pitch double to the gap in left-center field.
The Owls added another run for a 4-2 lead in the fourth and sent George to the showers in the process. Eric Arnold's sacrifice fly that Tom Montgomery caught at the wall in center, scored Kolkhorst. He was safe on a fielder's choice grounder and took third when Davis bounced a singled past Gregg Omori into right field.
The Owls upped their advantage to 5-2 in the sixth inning. Kolkhorst reached on an infield single to deep third, raced to third on Davis' hit-and-run single through the hole at short and scored on Arnold's sacrifice fly to right.
The 'Bows finally scored again in the sixth when Cortland Wilson doubled on a twisting dribbler down the third-base line that hit the bag and hopped over Brown's shoulder into short left. Wilson took third on Honma's groundout and scored when Omori singled to center, making the score 5-3 Owls.
Rice 6, Hawaii 3
| Rice (14-4) |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii (7-11) |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Kolkhurst dh |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Cook 3b |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
| Davis rf/lf |
4 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
Gilbride rf |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Arnold 2b |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Nogawa 2b |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Sinisi 1b |
5 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
Martines dh |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Brown 3b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Wilson ss |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Cruz ss |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Honma lf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Bubela lf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Omori 1b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Lorsbach rf |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Mntgmry cf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Porfirio cf |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Bock c |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Ruchti c |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Symonds ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals |
35 |
6 |
14 |
6 |
Totals |
33 |
3 |
9 |
3 |
| Rice |
120 |
101 |
001 |
-- |
6 |
14 |
2 |
| Hawaii |
200 |
001 |
000 |
-- |
3 |
9 |
1 |
E -- Arnold, Cruz, Bock. DP -- Rice 3, Hawaii 1. LOB --Rice 11, Hawaii 8. 2B -- Davis, Nogawa, Wilson. 3B -- Arnold, Ruchti. SB -- Cruz. CS -- Sinisi, Porfirio, Gilbride. SH -- Kolkhorst. SF -- Arnold 2.
| Rice |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Herce (W, 4-1) |
8.0 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
7 |
| Aardsma (Sv, 1) |
1.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| George (L, 0-1) |
3.2 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
| Quaglieri |
5.0 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| Le Ducq |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Herce faced 1 batter in the 9th.
WP -- Le Ducq. CI -- Bock. HBP-- by Herce (Montgomery). Umpires -- Montalbo (plate), Speck (first), Burleson (third).
T--2:58. A--1,523.
