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Yamashita Sean Yamashita pitched the first complete game of the year for Hawaii as the Rainbows defeated Hawaii-Hilo 7-2 in the Ohana Hotels & Resorts Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament last night.
goes the distance
for ’Bows
They defeat UH-Hilo 7-2
High hopes for tourneyBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comYamashita gave up five hits, walked two and struck out eight Vulcans. Other than the two innings the Vulcans scored, they did not get a runner to second base.
This was the second impressive performance for the senior right-hander in the tournament, a tremendous improvement over some earlier outings.
"I just think now that I'm working the inside half of the plate, that it is a big advantage," said Yamashita. "When you get the batter off their feet (leaning back) it gets them thinking about what's coming next and I can do pretty much what I want."
It also helps when a pitcher has his control and can hit the spots the catcher calls for.
"It was easy because Sean was throwing strikes," said UH catcher Grady Symonds. "He established the inside fastball and we were going to keep coming with that until they proved they could hit it and they never did."
Yamashita entered the ninth inning having thrown 111 pitches.
"I didn't want Sean to go much past 120 pitches. He left a couple up in the seventh inning, but came back and had a dominating eighth," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.
"I'm very conservative when it comes to pitch counts. I'm not big on letting a pitcher keep going just to get a complete game, so that shows how dominating Sean was."
The Rainbows struck first after UHH starter Daniel Lockett retired the first two batters in the top of the third inning.
Arthur Guillen beat out a ground ball that Vulcan shortstop Daniel Rhodes knocked down deep in the hole. Lane Nogawa then lifted a high, drifting-toward-the-foul-pole fly to right that dropped just over the fence about 327 feet from home plate for a two-run homer.
It was the senior second baseman's first home run as a Rainbow and came in his 479th career at bat.
The Vulcans got one run back in the bottom of the inning when UH starter Sean Yamashita walked leadoff hitter Ryan Hanohano on four pitches. Hanohano took second on Doug Nassimbene's sacrifice bunt, moved to third on Rhodes' ground out and scored on Kaliko Oligo's first-pitch single to left.
Hawaii also capitalized on a walk when Gregg Omori got a free pass to begin the fourth. Derek Honma was credited with an infield single on a grounder to deep short and both runners advanced a base on a throwing error by Rhodes.
Kevin Gilbride singled to center, scoring Omori. When the throw from Oligo in center field skipped all the way through to the backstop, Honma scored and Gilbride reached third.
Notes: UH assistant Josh Sorge coached third base for the second consecutive night while Trapasso called signals from the dugout. "Josh has waved more runners around third base in two games than I have in two months," said Trapasso. ... The game ended on a double play when UHH runner Ryan Oberg slid into Nogawa trying to make a throw from second base to first for the double play. The rule calls for an automatic out call on the batter. UH-Hilo assistant coach Bud Bailey disputed the call with umpire Gary Montalbo, bumped Montalbo and was suspended for today's game.
San Jose State 4, Lewis-Clark State 3: The Spartans completed a perfect tournament week by rallying three times to edge the Warriors in 11 innings.
SJSU tied the score at 2 in the bottom of the eighth on RBI doubles by pinch hitter Markum King and Travis Becktel.
The teams traded solo home runs in the 10th inning. Pinch hitter Emerson Frostad gave Lewis-Clark State a 3-2 lead with a drive over the right-field wall, but Bryan Baker tied the score in the bottom of the inning with a blast over the left-field wall.
In the bottom of the 11th, Gabe Lopez walked with one out, took second when Hector Zamora was hit by a pitch and scored on Ryan Adams' single to center.
Birmingham-Southern 6, UC Riverside 3: The Panthers broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh when Jon Prince opened the inning with a double to left, advanced to third on Pat Mizerany's sacrifice bunt and scored on Michael Cline's two-out single to center field.
Easter Tournament
Tournament Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. San Jose St. 6 0 1.000 -- 25 9 .735 UC Riverside 3 2 .600 2 1/2 18 12 .600 Birmingham-So. 3 2 .600 2 1/2 14 13 .519 Hawaii 3 2 .600 2 1/2 11 20 .355 Lewis-Clark St. 2 3 .400 3 1/2 20 9 .690 Hawaii-Hilo 1 4 .200 4 1/2 9 29 .237 Hawaii Pacific 0 5 .000 5 17 21 .447 Yesterday
San Jose State 4, Lewis-Clark State 3
Birmingham-Southern 6, UC Riverside 3
Hawaii 7, Hawaii-Hilo 2
Today
UC Riverside vs. Hawaii Pacific, 10 a.m.
Hawaii-Hilo vs. Birmingham-Southern, 1:35 p.m.
Hawaii vs. Lewis-Clark State, 6:35 p.m.
Hawaii 7, UH-Hilo 2
Hawaii AB R H BI Hilo AB R H BI Guillen cf 5 1 2 1 Oligo cf 4 0 1 1 Nogawa 2b 4 2 1 2 Chu rf 4 0 1 0 Cook 3b 4 1 1 0 Dudoit 3b 4 0 1 0 Omori dh 4 1 2 0 Oberg pr 0 0 0 0 Honma lf 5 1 2 2 Sooto c 2 1 1 0 Gilbride 1b 5 0 2 1 Loque ph 1 0 0 0 Montgomery rf 5 0 1 0 Park 1b 4 0 0 0 Symonds c 4 1 0 0 Agustin 2b 2 0 0 0 Russell ss 4 0 1 0 Hayashida 2b 1 0 0 0 Yamashita p 0 0 0 0 Hanohano dh 2 1 1 1 Hashimoto pr 0 0 0 0 Nassimbene lf 2 0 0 0 Rhodes ss 2 0 0 0 Watanabe ph 1 0 0 0 Egusa ss 0 0 0 0 Lockett p 0 0 0 0 Shimabuku p 0 0 0 0 Correa p 0 0 0 0 Totals 40 7 12 6 3 Totals 29 2 5 2
Hawaii (11-20) 002 302 000 -- 7 12 0 UH-Hilo (9-28-1) 001 000 100 -- 2 5 4 E -- Oligo; Agustin 2; Rhodes. DP -- UH 2; Vulcans 1. LOB -- UH 9; Vulcans 3. 2B -- Sooto. HR -- Nogawa. SH -- Nassimbene. SB -- Honma.
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Yamashita (2-2) 9.0 5 2 2 2 8 Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Lockett (2-2) 3.2 6 5 3 1 2 Shimabuku 4.2 6 2 0 2 4 Correa 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 WP -- Yamashita (2-2). Loss - Lockett (2-2). Save -- None. Umpires -- Mike Evans (home); Keoki Torres (first); Gary Montalbo (third). T -- 2:25. A -- 2,740.
UH Athletics