GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii freshman Keahi Rawlins delivered a pitch to Hawaii-Hilo's Scott McLaughlin last night. Rawlins was making his first collegiate start.
Rainbows have a The Hawaii Rainbows scrimped and sacrificed to produce runs in between their first two home runs of the season to defeat Hawaii-Hilo 8-2 last night in a nonconference game at Murakami Stadium.
blast with Vulcans
Hawaii executes perfectly
in between two home runsBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comSchafer Magana started the Hawaii scoring with a solo blast in the third and Tim Montgomary finished it with a two-run jack in the seventh, both over the left-field wall.
Nick Ponomarenko, a junior right-hander who pitched three shutout innings in relief of starter Keahi Rawlins, earned the victory. Ponomarenko allowed three hits, walked one and struck out four. He pitched out of a jam with runners at first and third with one out in the sixth by fanning Doug Nassimbene and getting Alan Sarmiento on a fly to center.
"I could have thrown more strikes. It was my first game (as a pitcher) and I had some jitters," said Ponomarenko, who also plays first base. "I thought I battled pretty good when they got runners on first base."
Scott McLaughlin went 4-for-4 for the Vulcans (2-15) who outhit Hawaii 11-9. However, the Rainbows (3-1) made excellent use of two sacrifice bunts, another that went for an infield single and two sacrifice flys.
Magana broke a scoreless tie after two were out in the bottom of the third inning when he lofted a 3-2 pitch from Hilo starter Daniel Lockett over the left-field wall just inside the foul pole.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Isaac Omura was tagged out by Hilo catcher Nalei Sooto in the fifth inning last night. The Rainbows won 8-2.
It was the first hit off Lockett and Magana's first hit of the season after eight fruitless trips to the plate.
"It was a curve, a ball I wanted to let get deep, let it travel before I swung. All I wanted to do was get a good hit," said Magana, who never opened a season with a home run.
The Vulcans came back with a two-out rally of their own in the top of the fourth.
Scott McLaughlin singled to center and moved up a base when Rawlins hit Chris Savio with an inside pitch. Nassimbene's slow roller toward shortstop went for an infield single, loading the bases. Designated hitter Sarmiento brought home his two teammates when he lined a 1-2 pitch into right-center field to edge the Vulcans ahead 2-1.
That inning was the last for Rawlins, who was limited to 70 to 80 pitches in his first start for the Rainbows. The freshman right-hander from Molokai surrendered six hits, did not issue a walk and fanned three.
"Keahi threw 75 pitches and that was perfect for him. The pitch count is the only reason we took him out," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.
"It was his first start. He was nervous. We just wanted him to force contact and he did that well. I'm proud of him. Keahi is a fastball, slider pitcher and that can be scary, but the big thing for him is he has such great movement on his fastball. You ask any of our catchers and they'll say he's the most difficult to catch because his fastball is running, dipping and sinking."
Hawaii knotted the score at 2 in the bottom of the inning on Josh Green's line double to right, a wild pitch and Rocky Russo's sacrifice fly to right.
The Rainbows took a 4-2 lead the following inning.
Catcher Matt Inouye, a freshman from Mid-Pacific making his first appearance, walked and moved to second when Brian Finegan beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt up the first-base line for an infield single. The runners advanced a base on Magana's sacrifice bunt and scored on Isaac Omura's hard grounder to right through a drawn in infield.
The 'Bows added another run in the sixth when Magana's sacrifice fly scored Montgomery, who was hit by a pitch from UHH reliever Jason Miyahara to start the inning. A throwing error by Miyahara on Inouye's sacrifice bunt put runners at first and second. Finegan loaded the bases with a bunt single that hugged the third-base line.
Montgomery's two-run homer over both fences in left-center field highlighted a three-run seventh inning as UH built an 8-2 lead. Andrew Sansaver came home on the Montgomery blast. Sansaver's single sent Russo, on board with a walk, to third from where he scored on a fielding error by Vulcan right fielder Dean Tamura.
Notes: The Rainbows open a three-game series with Sacramento State on Friday at 5 p.m. The teams also have a game scheduled in Sacramento on April 30. ... The teams last met in 2002 with the Hornets winning two of the three games played at Murakami Stadium.
Hawaii 8, Hawaii-Hilo 2
Hawaii-Hilo AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Oligo cf 4 0 1 0 Magana dh 3 1 1 2 Drever ss 5 0 1 0 Omura 2b 4 0 1 2 Hndrsn 3b-1b 5 0 1 0 Cook lf 3 0 0 0 Sooto c 4 0 0 0 Green rf 5 1 2 0 McLaghlin 1b 4 1 4 0 Russo 3b 2 1 0 1 Rhodes pr-3b 0 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 3 1 1 0 Savio 2b 3 1 1 0 Montgmery cf 3 2 1 2 Nassimbne lf 4 0 2 0 Inouye c 2 1 1 0 Sarmiento dh 4 0 1 2 Finegan ss 4 1 2 0 Tamura rf 3 0 0 0 Oketani ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 37 2 11 2 Totals 29 8 9 7 E--Tamura, Miyahira, Omura. DP--Hawaii 1. LOB--UHH 10, Hawaii 9. 2B--McLaughlin, Green. 3B--Inouye. HR--Magana (1), Montgomery (1). SH--Magana, Inouye. SF--Magana, Russo. CS--Oligo.
Hawaii-Hilo 000 200 000 -- 2 11 2 Hawaii 001 121 30x -- 8 9 1
Hawaii-Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Lockett (L, 0-2) 4.1 4 4 4 3 0 Miyahira 2.2 5 4 4 2 2 Jobes 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Rawlins 4.0 6 2 2 0 3 Ponomarnko (W, 1-0) 3.0 3 0 0 1 4 McDowell 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 Lee 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
WP--Lockett. HBP--by Rawlins (Savio), by Lockett (Sansaver), by Miyahira (Montgomery), by Jobes (Omura). Umpires--John Krason (plate), Jim LeBeau (first), Mike Evans (third). T--2:58. A--722 (turnstile).
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