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Hawaii battled No. 4 Rice for two Western Athletic Conference baseball games, then had the series finale get away from them quickly yesterday. Rice shows UH what a
national power looks likeThe class of the WAC blows out
the 'Bows to complete a sweep in the
first conference series of the seasonBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Owls (15-4, 3-0) completed the three-game sweep with a 13-4 victory as 1,277 Murakami Stadium fans watched.
Rice pounded out an opponent's season-high 20 hits, including 10 for extra bases, off four Hawaii pitchers. The 13 runs allowed topped the 12 scored by Florida State and UC Irvine earlier this year.
Hawaii (7-12, 0-3) starter Aaron Pribble was touched for a pair of hits in each of the first two innings, but didn't allow any runs. The Owls made the senior left-hander pay with three runs in the third, then sent Pribble to an early exit in the fourth, an inning in which the first seven Owls reached base with six of them scoring.
The 'Bows scored first for the first time in the series when Scooter Martines' bloop double to right scored Kevin Gilbride, on base after a fielding error by Owl second baseman Enrique Cruz, in the opening inning.
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> Rice made the score 3-1 in the top of the third, but Cortland Wilson's two-out single scored Brent Cook from second in the bottom of the inning. After that, it was all Rice."Aaron was playing with fire the whole time. His stuff isn't there, and there is something missing," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "His velocity is way down and he's not throwing with any consistency in the strike zone.
"I thought we had a handle on it this week, but we've got to go back, revisit with him, figure out what to do and what role he'll have."
Pribble was charged with the first five Rice runs in his three-plus innings. Ricky Bauer was tagged for the next six and Chad Giannetti watched two of his pitches clear the outfield wall in the eighth inning as Hunter Brown and Mike Lorsbach homered to left and right, respectively. In fact, Brown's ball hit off the fence surrounding the soccer field on the other side of the road behind Murakami Stadium.
"They just took care of business right away and we had no answer for their offense today. We just got hammered. There's not a whole lot you can say," said Trapasso.
"Basically the rest of the game, what we were left with was to try and work on little things with certain individuals and take a look at a pretty special ballclub that we were playing against. That's the best balanced, and by far the best offensive team, we've played this year, and their defense impressed me. They will have a chance to play for a national championship this year."
Hawaii's other runs came on Gregg Omori's RBI double in the sixth that scored Martines and on Chad Boudon's solo homer to left in the eighth. Boudon's shot was the only Rainbow hit in the final 3 2/3 innings off Rice relievers Wade Townsend and David Aardsma.
"I told our guys, we'll throw this game out because they played like a national champion today. They were outstanding and we were just outmanned, but the two games prior to today, we hung right with them and should have split," said Trapasso.
"If we play the way we played Friday night, and to some extent Saturday night, we're going to win our share of games during the remaining 70 percent of the season. It has to start this weekend."
The Rainbows travel to Hilo for four games against Hawaii-Hilo at Francis Wong Stadium.
Just what the Rainbows starting rotation will look like is up in the air.
"Don't assume anything after this weekend," Trapasso said. "Bryan Lee will start the first game. After that, we'll have to wait and see what happens."
One thing the UH skipper doesn't want to do is insert William Quaglieri, effective as a long reliever, into the starting rotation, but he may be forced to consider such a move.
"You have to stay in games (with the starting pitchers) before you go to a guy who can settle games," said Trapasso.
Rice 13, Hawaii 4
Rice (15-4) AB R H BI Hawaii (7-12) AB R H BI Kolkhurst dh 5 1 2 2 Cook 3b 3 1 1 0 Bubela ph/lf 1 0 1 0 Russell ph/3b 2 0 0 0 Porfirio cf 5 2 1 0 Gilbride rf 3 1 0 0 Sinisi 1b 3 3 3 0 Nogawa 2b 3 0 0 0 Crowder 1b 2 0 1 0 Mocny 2b 1 0 0 0 Arnold 2b 6 2 4 4 Martines dh 4 1 2 1 Brown 3b 4 1 2 3 Wilson ss 3 0 1 1 Cruz dh 3 0 0 1 Carlson ss 1 0 0 0 Davis rf 3 0 1 0 Honma lf 3 0 1 0 Lorsbach rf 2 1 1 1 Houdon lf 1 1 1 1 Janish ss 5 2 3 0 Omori 1b 3 0 2 1 Ruchti c 3 1 2 0 Symonds c 3 0 0 0 Blackngtn ph/c 1 0 0 0 Mntgmery cf 3 0 0 0 Guillen cf 3 0 0 0 Totals 44 13 20 12 Totals 34 4 8 4
Rice 003 601 120 -- 13 20 1 Hawaii 101 001 010 -- 4 8 1 E--Arnold (2), Symonds (1). DP--Rice 2. LOB--Rice 9, Hawaii 6. 2B--Arnold 2 (5), Omori 2 (9), Kolhorst(7), Porfirio (8), Sinisi (10), Janish (3), Ruchti (3), Martines (2).3B-- Arnold (3). HR--Brown (2), Lorsbach (4), Boudon (1). SH--None. SF--Cruz (2). SB--Kolkhorst (4), Porfirio (5). CS--none.
Rice IP H R ER BB SO Niemann (W, 3-0) 5.1 7 3 2 1 3 Townsend 2.2 1 1 1 1 2 Aardsma 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Pribble (L, 2-2) 3.0 8 5 5 1 1 Bauer 3.1 8 6 6 1 0 Giannetti 1.2 3 2 2 0 0 Piepmeier 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 WP--Pribble. S--none. PB--none. HBP--Porfirio (Bauer). Umpires--Billy Joe Speck (home), Joe Burleson (first), Gary Montalbo (third). T--3:10. A--1,277.
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