GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Wichita State's Phil Napolitan scored yesterday as UH catcher Brian Bock awaited the throw from the outfield. The Shockers won the game 6-4 to take the three-game series 2-1. They head back to Kansas having won nine of 10 games in Hawaii.
Shockers stop Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson and Hawaii's Mike Trapasso were thinking in similar terms after the Shockers rallied to win the showdown meeting of the three-game series at Murakami Stadium.
Rainbows short
No. 27 Wichita State wins the
Stephenson climbs list of greats
rubber game of the weekend seriesBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com"We competed hard today. I thought Mike Pelfrey (Wichita State's strating pitcher) was outstanding," said Stephenson. "The big thing was we were able to get those three runs in the eighth. I have great respect for the Rainbows. They can move the ball around offensively. It was a good win for us."
Hawaii (7-3) had come back from a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the score at 3-3 only to have the No. 27 Shockers (9-1) take advantage of a hit batter and a walk to set the stage for their own three-run inning in the eighth. Cody Clark's two-run triple into the right-field corner was the most damaging blow, breaking the tie and providing the necessary insurance run.
Brent Cook doubled Brian Finegan home with UH's final run in the ninth, but Wichita State left the stadium with a 6-4 victory and a 16-15 lead in the all-time series.
"I feel better about our club after the weekend than I did going into it. When we do execute and do what we're supposed to do we can play with most teams. We pitched good enough to win three, but we didn't get it done, which just shows we have a lot of work to do," said Trapasso.
Stephenson added, "I thought our defense was outstanding (one error in three games), but we see where our shortcomings are and we will work on them. I thought both teams competed well. Hawaii has it moving in the right direction. I think the people here are going to enjoy a much better season."
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Josh Green couldn't come up with Cody Clark's liner. It went for a two-run triple.
The Shockers broke on top with three second-inning runs off UH starter Ricky Bauer, who surrendered hits to the first four batters he faced.
Clark lined a double to the right-center-field alley to start the inning and took third on Phil Napolitan's liner to left. After Napolitan stole second, J.R. DiMercurio sent a hard grounder between first and second that scored both runners.
Nick McCoola sent another hard ground ball into right with DiMercurio stopping at second. Brandon Hall sacrificed the runners up a base. DiMercurio scored on a ground ball that UH first baseman Andrew Sansaver stabbed with a diving stop in the dirt behind the bag but was only able to record the unassisted putout at first.
Through the first five innings, WSU freshman right-hander Pelfrey dominated the UH batters, allowing just one hit --a bloop single to center by Schafer Magana in the third inning.
Pelfrey had the Rainbows beating the ball into the ground for the most part, getting eight ground-ball outs to go with his four strikeouts.
After he got another ground-ball out to start the sixth, Finegan, Cook and Josh Green singled to load the bases, the 'Bows' first real scoring threat. However, Pelfrey threw a good pitch to Rocky Russo and induced the freshman to hit into an around-the-horn double play.
"Give Pelfrey the credit first and foremost, even though you could sense in our dugout a lot of frustration about the night before," said Trapasso. "Early in the game our gun had him at 90-91 (mph). The key for him is he threw the slider for strikes so we couldn't sit on the fastball."
Pelfrey was replaced by Noah Booth after throwing 74 pitches during six strong innings in which 15 of the 18 Rainbows were retired by ground balls (11) or strikes (four).
Booth did not last long, issuing one-out walks to Brian Bock on four pitches and Tim Montgomery on a full count. David Sanders arrived from the WSU bullpen to strike out Tyler Wightman only to have Magana rip a ball just inside the third-base bag for a two-run double. Finegan followed suit with another well-hit ball into the left-field corner that scored Magana and tied the score at 3-3.
"Keahi (Rawlins) kept us in a position to where we were still in it, but we weren't able to shut the door with the pen," Trapasso said.
Rawlins retired 14 of the first 15 Shockers he faced before hitting Nick Blasi and walking Brandon Green on four pitches. They scored on Clark's triple off Hawaii's third pitcher, Bryan Lee.
The Rainbows' next game is Wednesday, when they host Hawaii Pacific at 6:05 p.m.
WICHITA STATE 6, HAWAII 4
WSU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Waddell cf 5 0 0 1 Finegan ss 3 1 2 1 Blasi rf 3 1 0 0 Cook lf 5 0 2 1 Green ss 3 1 2 0 Green rf 5 0 1 0 Moffitt dh 4 0 0 0 Russo 3b 4 0 1 0 Clark 3b 4 2 2 1 Sansaver 1b 4 0 0 0 Napolitan lf 4 1 2 1 Bock c 3 1 0 0 DiMercario 1b 4 1 1 2 Mntgmry cf 3 1 0 0 McCoola 2b 4 0 2 0 Wightman dh 4 0 0 0 Hall c 3 0 0 0 Magana 2b 4 1 2 2 Totals 34 6 9 5 Totals 35 4 8 4 E--Clark; Bock. DP--WSU 1. LOB--WSU 4, Hawaii 8. 2B--Green, Clark, Finegan, Cook, Russo, Magana. 3B--Clark. HBP--Blassi. SH--Hall. SF--none. SB--Blasi, Napolitan, Magana. CS--none.
WSU (9-1) 030 000 030 -- 6 9 1 Hawaii (7-3) 000 000 301 -- 4 8 0
WP--none. S--none. PB--none. BK--Pelfrey. HB--by Pelfrey (Finegan); by Rawlins (Blasi). Umpires--Jim LeBeau (home), Ryan Arasato (first), Keoki Torres (third). T--2:39. A--1,736.
WSU IP H R ER BB SO Pelfrey 6 4 0 0 0 4 Booth 1/3 0 2 2 2 0 Sanders 1/3 2 1 1 0 1 Fosters (W, 2-0) 2 1/3 2 1 1 1 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer 3 6 3 3 0 2 Rawlins (L, 0-1) 4 1/3 1 2 2 1 4 Lee 2/3 2 1 1 0 1 Feck 1 0 0 0 0 0
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson ate some saimin before Saturday night's game at Murakami Stadium.
For one of the few times in his storied career, Gene Stephenson was out of uniform and out of his customary third-base coach's box. The Wichita State baseball coach, in a leg brace following last month's skiing accident, wore shorts for the final two games against Hawaii and was relegated to the top steps of his dugout at Murakami Stadium. Stephenson climbs
list of greatsBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com"It's been hard dealing with (the leg) all week, but I have confidence in our coaches," said the 57-year-old Stephenson after his team downed the Rainbows 6-4 yesterday to take the series 2-1. "I'm happy for the most part how our team played. Obviously, Hawaii is much better than they were a year ago.
"I have great respect for the Rainbows. They can move the ball around offensively, so this was a good win for us."
It's pretty certain that Stephenson, No. 3 on the all-time win list (1,366), will be back to long pants this week. The Shockers headed back last night to Kansas for their opening homestand with Iowa.
At least that's the plan. Eck Stadium is currently under 8 inches of snow and with a projected high today of 15 degrees.
Weather hasn't hurt WSU's attendance. The Shockers annually rank in the Top 10 nationally at the stadium, a 3,400-seat gem recognized as one of the best collegiate ballparks in the country in a recent Baseball America poll.
However, Stephenson is a major proponent of literally leveling the college baseball playing field. He would like to see the start of the season moved to around April 1, with teams playing through to a College World Series in mid-August.
"I'd like everyone to have a common starting date, give everybody the opportunity to play through a baseball season," said Stephenson, citing weather problems that force postponements and cancellations. "If we did that, college baseball would appeal to huge numbers of fans.
"I mean this sincerely. We'd be on the same level with college basketball and college football if we had our own season. Now, we're playing in February and March, and everyone is thinking basketball. By moving it back, we'd have that window of opportunity to play 80-100 games, get the national television coverage. College presidents are looking for that one way to add college revenue. This would be it."
Stephenson has never been known for conventional thinking. Many questioned his sanity when he took the job at WSU.
There was no on-campus facility when he was hired to resurrect the program in the spring of 1977. Nor was there a team. And there was no equipment. Not even a baseball.
But that didn't stop Stephenson, who left a successful assistant's position at Oklahoma to revive a Wichita State program that had been dormant for eight years. In his first season, the Shockers went 43-30-1, playing mostly at city ballparks.
The team finished the last six games of the year at its permanent home, Shocker Field, the site of what is now Eck Stadium. It was the start of 25 consecutive winning seasons for Stephenson and WSU.
Things are shaping up for a 26th winning year as the Shockers left Hawaii with an 8-1 mark, having swept seven games from Hawaii-Hilo and going 2-1 against the Rainbows. Stephenson trails current Texas coach Augie Garrido (1,391 wins) by 26 games for the No. 2 spot all-time.
It's not inconceivable for Stephenson to surpass former Texas coach Cliff Gustafson (1,427), either this year or next. The Shockers, the winningest NCAA Division I program over the past 25 years, have always given their coach at least 40 victories every season (40-22 in 1984 was the fewest).
"I never thought about that," Stephenson said of becoming the all-time winningest coach. "The one thing we always try to do is be a little bit better every year. It's amazing to me how fast time has flown.
"Unfortunately for our program, I've signed a five-year contract effective this year so I'm here through '08. We'll be back here in '05 and '07. And, who knows, maybe I'll be around a lot longer than that."
The Shocker fans hope so. About 50 of them traveled to Hawaii for the two-island series, most of them longtime fans with no family ties to the program.
"We've been following them since 1987 and probably have missed four games in the past three years," said Charlie Claycomb. "We saw all 64 games last season."
"We love Gene," said Claycomb's wife, Cindy. "The players come and go, but the coaches stay."
Stephenson has built a powerhouse.
Since 1984, the Shockers have won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season 16 times, finished second twice and fourth once. They have 20 NCAA Regional appearances and have made it to the College World Series seven times, winning it all in 1989.
"We know we're very important to the city of Wichita," said Stephenson. "We've had a number of great players over the years and the end result has been a tremendous facility, a tremendous following and a tremendous program."
Stephenson hopes to be back in the third-base box soon. An expert-rated skier, he tumbled during a double-X run on man-made snow at a Colorado resort last month and hit a tree.
He tore his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee, fractured his left tibia and suffered a concussion.
"I'm lucky they saw me, otherwise I'd still be laying there," he said as he slowly made his way to the team bus. "I'm glad I was able to make the trip. I love coming here."
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