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Hawaii finds A little timely defense and hitting and a whole lot of solid pitching added up to a Hawaii victory last night in the Rainbows' first game of their Easter Baseball Tournament.
4 hits is just
enough to win
The Rainbows make
Yamashita a winner in
his first start of the seasonBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comUH beat Birmingham-Southern 2-1 in a well-played game at Murakami Stadium featuring an outstanding starting pitching performance by senior righthander Sean Yamashita.
"I've gotten used to getting only four hits, but it's something new to win with four hits," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "But what a good baseball game. You don't see that too often in college baseball."
A turnstile crowd of 1,273 saw the second day of the tournament. San Jose State and Lewis-Clark State won earlier in the day to take the early lead with 2-0 records. UH, which plays 0-1 California Riverside tonight at 6:35, is third at 1-0.
Hawaii improved to 9-18 overall, while Birmingham-Southern fell to 14-12.
Yamashita's first start of the season -- after doing so in all 17 of his appearances last year -- was a superb one, as he allowed four hits (all singles) and left with a 2-1 lead after 6 2/3 innings. He struck out four, walked one and hit two batters to improve to 2-1.
"He earned that," Trapasso said. "He's been our troubleshooter all season out of the bullpen and accepted the role, so it felt good to give him a chance (to start)."
While Yamashita was handcuffing the Panthers, Birmingham-Southern starter Jon Renfro did the same to the Rainbows. He allowed only three hits in six innings, but fell to 3-2.
"He's our guy," Panthers coach Brian Shoop said. "When he's pitching we're always in the game. But I thought their first guy was outstanding. He might be able to help the Rainbows turn it around."
Yamashita, whose ERA dropped from 5.66 to 4.61, was effective despite not having his best stuff, he said.
"My curve wasn't that sharp, you don't always have your best pitches. But I was able to spot my fastball inside and out," Yamashita said. "That helped a lot."
So did Derek Honma, his former high school teammate at Pearl City.
Honma was in on UH's key offensive and defensive plays. His first inning triple drove in both runs and his eighth-inning throw from left field started the relay play that may have saved it for the Rainbows.
The Panthers, defending NAIA champions, threatened in the seventh and eighth innings, but lefthander Matt Le Ducq got his first save of the season with help from UH's defense.
Yamashita was replaced by Le Ducq with runners on first and second in the seventh. Matt Bogue, who had singled, and Cory Hamrick, who walked, both stole on Le Ducq's first pitch. But they were left at second and third, as Le Ducq struck out pinch hitter John Crew on three swings.
Michael Cline and Adam Pease started the eighth with singles. Then Mac Godwin hit a deep drive to leftcenter which Art Guillen dived for, got his glove on, but didn't catch. Backing up the play, Honma threw to shortstop Cortland Wilson who relayed to catcher Brian Bock in time to get Cline at the plate. After an intentional walk to Connor Robertson, Le Ducq struck out Adam Tucker and induced Matt Bogue into a force out to end the inning.
Le Ducq pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, including two strikeouts, to end it.
"You can always be confident when you hand it over to Matt," Yamashita said.
UH scored both runs in the bottom of the first. Guillen led off with a single and Brent Cook walked. After Lane Nogawa moved them up with a sacrifice bunt, Omori grounded to third and Guillen was cut down at home. Honma's triple into the rightfield corner scored Cook and Omori.
Birmingham-Southern closed to 2-1 in the sixth, thanks to some help from Yamashita. He hit Pease with a pitch, and allowed him to second on a wild pitch. Godwin drove him home with a single. Goodwin was caught stealing (Bock to second baseman Lane Nogawa to first baseman Kevin Gilbride) and Connor Robertson flied out deep to left to end the inning.
After Tim Montgomery's scratch single in the third, the Rainbows didn't get another hit until 19 batters later, when Bock looped a double to right in the seventh of reliever Tim Hicks. Bock was stranded at second, though, as rightfielder Cline made a diving catch of Guillen's long drive and Nogawa grounded into a force.
Notes: UH outfielder Kevin Gilbride's father, also named Kevin, was at the game last night. The longtime NFL coach was recently hired as an assistant for the Buffalo Bills. ... Hilo assistant coach Joseph McNally received a two-game suspension after being thrown out of Monday's game against Hawaii Pacific. ... Rainbow designated hitter Scooter Martines was a late scratch from the starting lineup last night, with an injury to his right shoulder he suffered during batting practice.
Lewis-Clark State 10, Hilo 2: Kapaa High School alumnus Micah Furtado went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs to lead the Warriors (21-6, 2-0) past the Vulcans (9-26-1, 1-1).
Furtado extended his hitting streak to 13 games and is now batting .500 in 62 at bats.
"Right now he's our best player," LCSU coach Ed Cheff said. "He's really solidified his hold on the starting second base job."
Furtado, who played in seven games last year, began this season on the bench. But once he got a chance, the 5-foot-7, 170-pound redshirt freshman made the most of it.
"I'm just trying to concentrate, work hard," Furtado said. "This is a lot of fun, too, because I've got a lot of family and friends watching."
Two of his buddies played for Hilo yesterday -- former Kapaa teammate Sean Tamura and Kaliko Oligo, who played for Waimea.
The Warriors cooled off the Vulcans -- who had won five consecutive games -- with eight runs in the first three innings.
Furtado led off the bottom of the first with a triple down the right-field line and scored on Emerson Frostad's ground out.
Furtado drove in a run with a single and later scored in the second inning. In the third he plated two more runs with another single, and he scored after being hit by a pitch in the seventh.
Collin Perschon (3-1) started and pitched 6 2/3 innings to get the win for the Warriors. He allowed seven hits but only one earned run.
Robert Shimabuku (1-6) absorbed the loss for Hilo. He was chased after giving up six runs on nine hits in two innings.
Johnny Dudoit paired singles for the Vulcans.
San Jose State 2, Hawaii Pacific 0: Andy Cook and Mike Malott combined on a five-hitter as the Spartans (21-9, 2-0) beat the Sea Warriors (17-18, 0-2).
San Jose State's Hector Zamora went 2-for-3 with an RBI single in the first inning, scoring Travis Becktel. Becktel was hit by a pitch to lead off the game.
T.C. Everett hit two singles for Hawaii Pacific.
HPU's Blake Marschand (1-3) allowed only four hits in 8 2/3 innings, but he also walked nine Spartans.
Cook (1-1) started and got the win. Malott pitched a hitless 2 1/3 innings for his first save.
Hawaii 2, Birm.-Southern 1
Birm.-Southern AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Cline rf 4 0 1 0 Guillen cf 3 0 1 0 Pease lf 3 1 2 0 Cook 3b 2 1 0 0 Godwin dh 4 0 2 1 Nogawa 2b 3 0 0 0 Robertson 3b 2 0 0 0 Omori dh 4 1 0 0 Tucker 1b 4 0 0 0 Honma lf 3 0 1 2 Bogue cf 4 0 2 0 Wilson ss 4 0 0 0 Sanford 2b 2 0 0 0 Gilbride 1b 3 0 0 0 Driskill ph/2b 1 0 0 0 Montgmery rf 3 0 1 0 Prince c 2 0 0 0 Bock c 2 0 1 0 Hamrick ph 0 0 0 0 Griffith c 1 0 0 0 Wydner ss 2 0 0 0 Asher ph 0 0 0 0 Crew ph 1 0 0 0 Mizrany ph/ss 1 0 0 0 Totals 44 12 13 8 Totals 37 5 10 8
Birm.-Southern 000 001 000 -- 1 7 2 Hawaii 200 000 00x -- 2 4 1 E--Wydner, Renfro, Cook. DP--Hawaii 1. LOB--BS 8, Hawaii 7. 2B--Bock. 3B-- Honma. SB--Pease, Bogue, Hamrick. CS--Godwin. SH--Driskill, Nogawa.
Birm.-Southern IP H R ER BB SO Renfro (L, 3-2) 6.0 3 2 2 3 5 Hicks 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Yamashita (W, 1-2) 6.2 4 1 1 1 4 Le Ducq (S, 1) 2.1 3 0 0 1 4 WP--Renfro, Yamashita. HBP--by Yamashita (Robertson, Pease), by Renfro (Guillen). Umpires--NJim LeBeau (plate), Don Greman (first), Gary Montalbo (third).
T--2:28. A--2,781.
UH Athletics