RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH alumnus Trey Garman made this catch and threw to first for an out in the fifth yesterday.
New Rainbows Hawaii head baseball coach Mike Trapasso was not about to assign a letter grade to the Rainbows' performance in yesterday's game against the alumni at Murakami Stadium.
chase away
butterflies
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comAfter all, it is an exhibition void of any real pressure, a coming out for the new 'Bows and a fun time for the former 'Bows who suited up once again for a bit of fun and a lot of talk about the good old days.
Hawaii scored eight runs over the first four innings, and that was enough for an 8-1 victory witnessed by a crowd of 537.
"We did OK, but we have a lot of work to do. We pitched OK and, for the most part, our guys threw strikes," said Trapasso.
Senior Justin Caytano pitched a one-two-three first inning with a pair of strikeouts. He was followed by Keahi Rawlins, a freshman right-hander from Molokai who pitched two innings. Clary Carlsen, a junior right-hander, also went two innings and three freshmen right-handers -- Mike Peck, Rich Olsen and Guy McDowell -- wrapped things up with an inning apiece.
"It was good to see the young kids we have go out there and get the butterflies out of their system because they were definitely in their systems," said Trapasso. "It was good to see them trust their stuff and throw it in there. That was the main thing for today."
Nick Ponomarenko singled for UH's first hit with two out in the first inning to drive in the second run after Schafer Magana had scored earlier on Joshua Green's groundout.
Brian Bock reached on an error with one out in the second and took second on Brian Finegan's infield single. Magana sacrificed the runners up a base and both scored on Isaac Omura's triple into the right-field corner.
Bock's bases-loaded double, a sharp grounder just inside the third-base bag that rolled to the left-field corner, brought home the final three runs in the fourth.
"We need to do a better job offensively and we will do that," said Trapasso.
The alumni got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning when Moku Paiva walked, stole second easily, took third on Kawika Aganos' groundout and strolled home when Aaron Pribble stroked a double to the right center-field alley.
"We play this game to have a good time with our former players and try to find a way to thank those guys," said Trapasso.
"We get our kids out there with some crowd noise and see whose legs are shaking and who has that look in their eye you want to see."
Hawaii opens its regular season Friday at 6:35 p.m. with the first of three weekend games against UCLA.
UH Alumni 000 001 000 -- 1 5 2 Hawaii 230 300 00X -- 8 9 1 Wakon Childers, Matt Apana (3), Ken McKenzie (5), Paul Ah Yat (6), Ian Jones (8) and Lars Hansen, Tyler Cheff (6); Justin Cayetano, Keahi Rawlins (2), Clary Carlsen (4), Mike Peck (6), Rich Olsen (7), Guy McDowell (9) and Brian Bock, Drew Jackson (6).
W--Cayetano. L--Childers.
Leading hitters--Alumni: Aaron Pribble, 2b. Hawaii: Isaac Omura, 3b, 2 RBIs; Nick Ponomarenko, 2-2; Bock, 2-3, 2b, 3 RBIs.
