HOUSTON >> Rice freshman right-hander Philip Humber threw 112 pitches to Hawaii batters over eight innings and all the Rainbows produced from those offerings were three harmless singles. Humber puts hurt on UH
From staff and wire reports
The Owls took advantage of three early walks by Hawaii right-hander Sean Yamashita as all three scored en route to a 9-1 Western Athletic Conference victory last night at Reckling Park.
Humber was the Owls starter when the teams opened WAC play at Murakami Stadium March 8. He struggled with his control, walking five and lasted just 3 2/3 innings that evening.
Last night Humber walked four, but fanned seven and was effective enough to keep the UH batters from taking charge even when they were ahead in the count.
"He's got good stuff and is going to be one of the best pitchers to ever come out of Rice, but I didn't think he threw that well tonight," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.
"He struggled with his command, but I don't know, we make a lot of guys look good. We're so soft offensively."
Hawaii (14-26, 3-11 WAC) avoided a shutout in the ninth against reliever David Aardsma. With one out, Tim Montgomery singled to right and advanced to second when Cortland Wilson walked on four straight pitches.
Kevin Gilbride, making his first start on the road trip, sliced a one-strike pitch just inside the third-base bag for an RBI double. But, any thoughts of a bigger rally were dashed as Aardsma struck out Julian Russell and Brian Bock to end the game and keep Rice perfect at home in eight conference games.
"I'm disappointed in the way we competed tonight," said Trapasso.
Rice (34-8, 16-1) scored the necessary runs in the third inning when Austin Davis and Eric Arnold walked on full counts, and moved to third and second, respectively, on Vincent Sinisi's groundout.
Yamashita then fanned Hunter Brown on three pitches, but designated hitter Dan Bubela bounced a single past UH first baseman Gregg Omori to score both runners.
"They gave him a hit on that, but that's a ball Gregg has to get his chest in front of and knock it down," said Trapasso.
The Rainbows managed to get Brent Cook to second base in the first and sixth innings, and Lane Nogawa reached third on a walk, groundout and wild pitch in the third, the closest UH came to scoring off Humber.
And, in the sixth, with two on and none out, Cook was thrown out trying to steal third base, leaving Trapasso livid.
"I don't know what Cookie was thinking. He wants to make things happen all the time, but that was a real bad decision. It hurt us," said Trapasso. Consequently, after the game, no one has the green light from second base anymore.
"I thought Sean pitched his heart out and kept us in the game."
One way to look at the difference between Rice and UH is to check the batting averages of the starting lineup. After last night's game, the Rice starters were hitting .358, .358, .355, .404, .320, .310, .350, .218 and .475. The 'Bows starters were hitting .288, .338, .287, .312, .268, .255, .239, .250 and .196.
The series and road trip conclude with a game against Rice today that starts at 9 a.m. Hawaii time.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 15 1 .938 -- 33 8 .805 San Jose St. 10 6 .625 5 31 12 .721 Fresno St. 9 7 .563 6 21 20 .512 Nevada 4 9 .308 9 1/2 16 20 .444 LaTech 4 12 .250 11 17 23 .425 Hawaii 3 10 .231 10 1/2 14 26 .359 Yesterday
Rice 9, Hawaii 1
San Jose State 13, Louisiana Tech 7
Fresno State 1, Nevada 0Today
Hawaii at Rice, 9 a.m. Hawaii time
San Jose State at Louisiana Tech
Nevada at Fresno State
Rice 9, Hawaii 1
Hawaii AB R H BI Rice AB R H BI Nogawa 2b 3 0 1 0 Kolkhorst lf 3 1 0 0 Cook 3b 3 0 1 0 Skaggs ph 1 0 0 0 Omori 1b 3 0 0 0 Davis rflf 4 1 2 0 Martines lf 4 0 1 0 Arnold 2b 3 2 1 1 Montgomery cf 4 1 1 0 Sinisi 1b 5 2 3 1 Wilson dh 2 0 0 0 Brown 3b 4 1 1 1 Gilbride rf 4 0 1 1 Bebula dh 2 0 1 0 Russell ss 4 0 0 0 Janish ph 1 1 0 2 Bock cc 4 0 0 0 Porfirio cf 5 0 2 0 Totals 31 1 5 1 Cruz ss 5 0 0 3 Blackinton c 4 1 2 0 Totals 37 9 12 8
Hawaii 000 000 001 -- 1 5 2 Rice 002 101 23x -- 9 12 0 E--Russell (8), Bock (7). DP--Rice 1 (Brown-Arnold-Sinisi). LOB--Rice 11, Hawaii 8. 2B--Gilbride (4), Arnold (13), Porfirio 2(12), Blackinton (2). HR--Sinisi (6). CS--Cook (2).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Yamashita (L ,2-5) 6 9 6 6 5 3 Le Ducq 1 2/3 2 3 0 0 1 Giannetti 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 Rice IP H R ER BB SO Humber (W, 8-1) 8 3 0 0 4 7 Aardsma 1 2 1 1 1 3 WP--Le Ducq (2), Humber 2(11). HBP--by Le Ducq (Janish). Umpires--HP: Bob Charmo, 1B: Bruce Sieges, 3B: Dan Marple. T--2:34. A--2,312.
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