[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
SAN JOSE, Calif. >> The Hawaii Rainbows doubled their hit total vs. the last time they faced Mike Malott, but it didn't change the outcome of the game. Rainbows barely better,
but not better enoughFrom staff and wire services
All it meant was the 6-foot-4 sophomore right-hander pitched a two-hitter against the 'Bows last night at Municipal Stadium to lead San Jose State to an 8-1 Western Athletic Conference victory in the opener of a three-game series.
Malott threw a one-hit shutout at UH in the Rainbow Easter Tournament and had three innings of one-hit relief in the second game of the WAC series at Murakami Stadium.
"We have four hits off him in 21 innings," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "Obviously, he has our number. Some guys have that going for them.
"He has totally dominated us in three outings."
The Rainbows' first hit came in the fourth when Brent Cook started the inning with an infield single up the middle. San Jose State second baseman Gabe Lopez gloved it, but couldn't make a play at first.
After Gregg Omori walked on four consecutive balls, Cook scored the lone UH run when SJSU first baseman Bryan Baker hit Omori with his throw to second after fielding Scooter Martines' grounder and stepping on first.
Baker more than made up for the error by starting three of the Spartans' run-scoring innings.
He doubled to center in the second and scored on Kevin Frandsen's double to left-center.
After the 'Bows tied the score at 1 in the top of the fourth, Baker singled with one out in the bottom of the inning and came home on Frandsen's fifth home run of the season.
The Spartans (37-13 overall, 15-7 WAC) added another run on Travis Becktel's RBI single to left for a 4-1 lead and that was plenty of cushion for Malott. He has three complete games this season, two against UH.
He retired the Rainbows in order five times, including four of the first six innings. The only other time Hawaii had two runners on base in an inning came in the seventh.
Danny Mocny beat out a bunt single with one down and moved to second when Chad Boudon reached base on a fielding error by shortstop Anthony Contreras. But Julian Russell went down swinging on a 3-2 pitch and Brian Bock hit a routine fly to right for the final out.
For UH starter Chris George, the fourth proved to be a tough inning once again. In the junior right-hander's last five starts, he has given up 24 runs and 16 of them crossed the plate in the fourth inning.
"It was a combination of Chris making a couple of bad pitches and, when he made good pitches, having some bad luck. The Spartans' two runs in the sixth were created by bad-hop singles and a third that UH second baseman Lane Nogawa normally would have handled but didn't last night.
"It was nothing more than just a regular game for us that we got beat in," said Trapasso. "Our kids played hard, bur couldn't get anything going offensively."
Hawaii (15-30, 4-15) will start right-hander Sean Yamashita on the mound in today's (live at 10 a.m. on KCCN-1420 AM) game.
Note: The WAC athletic directors decided at the league meetings in Phoenix last week to keep the baseball schedule the same in 2003 as it is this year. Further discussion on holding a postseason tournament will take place at the coaches meeting in August.
San Jose St. 8, Hawaii 1
UH (15-30) AB R H BI SJSU (37-13) AB R H BI Nogawa 2b 4 0 0 0 Quintero cf 4 1 2 1 Cook cf 4 1 1 0 Corrick lf 4 0 1 0 Omori 1b 3 0 0 0 Lopez 2b 4 0 1 1 Martines dh 4 0 0 0 Zamora dh 4 0 0 0 Montgomery rf 2 0 0 0 Baker 1b 3 3 2 0 Mocny 3b 4 0 1 0 Frandsen 3b 3 2 2 3 Boudon lf 4 0 0 0 Shorsher c 3 1 1 0 Symonds ss 2 0 0 0 Contreras ss 2 1 1 0 Bock c 3 0 0 0 Becktel rf 3 0 2 3 Total 30 1 2 0 Totals 30 6 12 8
Hawaii 000 100 000 -- 1 2 1 San Jose St. 010 302 11x -- 8 12 2 E -- George (1), Baker (3), Contreras (2). DP -- Hawaii 1 (Nogawa-Russell-Omori). LOB -- Hawaii 6, San Jose St. 6. 2B -- Baker (13), Frandsen (5). HR -- Frandsen (5). SH -- Corrick (4), Contreras (1). SF -- Quintero (3). SB -- Lopez (14).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO George (L, 5-4) 7.0 12 7 6 2 2 Piepmeier 1.0 0 1 1 2 0 San Jose St. IP H R ER BB SO Malott (W, 6-2) 9.0 2 1 0 3 4 WP -- George (9). HBP -- by Malott (Symonds), by Piepmeier (Becktel). BK -- Malott (2). Umpires -- HP: Jim Garman, 1B: Steve Mattingly, 3B: Ron Ramirez. T -- 2:11. A -- 485.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 20 1 .952 -- 39 8 .830 San Jose St. 15 7 .682 5 1/2 37 13 .740 Fresno St. 13 8 .619 7 26 22 .542 Nevada 6 13 .316 13 19 25 .432 Hawaii 4 15 .211 15 15 30 .333 LaTech 4 18 .182 16 1/2 18 29 .383 Yesterday
San Jose State 8, Hawaii 1
Nevada 8, Louisiana Tech 7
Fresno State 11, Sacramento State 1Today
Hawaii at San Jose State, 10 a.m. Hawaii time
Nevada at Louisiana Tech
Sacramento State at Fresno StateTomorrow
Hawaii at San Jose State, 10 a.m. Hawaii time
Nevada at Louisiana Tech
Sacramento State at Fresno State
UH Athletics
