The Hawaii Pacific Sea Warriors visit Murakami Stadium tonight to play the Hawaii Rainbows for the first time since 1999. The game starts at 6:05. Ponomarenko makes
first start for Rainbows
against Sea WarriorsBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comNick Ponomarenko makes his first start on the mound for the Rainbows (7-3). The junior right-hander pitched three shutout innings in relief in his only outing this year.
"We would like to get three or four innings out of Nick. After that we hope to bring a lot of guys in," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso.
Hawaii Pacific (4-8) coach Allan Sato counters with either Matt Paulson, a junior right-hander, or Blane Muraoka, a senior left-hander.
Paulson has half of the Sea Warriors' victories and is allowing less than a hit per inning in compiling a 3.72 earned run average. Muraoka (0-1) has made three starts and has a 9.69 ERA.
"I've been telling everybody that we are young and we are, but we're a good young with guys who are hungry and talented," said Sato. "After 12 games, I've been pleasantly surprised with the way they have hung in there and battled."
The Sea Warriors lost five of six to Sonoma State -- a team Sato says will be in the Division II Top 10 poll soon -- to open the season, then have split six games with Hawaii-Hilo.
"We made a lot of positive adjustments between the series and we were in every game against Hilo," said Sato.
Adjustments needed: Freshman second baseman Isaac Omura and junior right fielder Josh Green cooled down some at the plate in recent games, but Trapasso isn't worried.
Entering the Sacramento State series, Omura was hitting .375 and Green .353. Now they are down to .231 and .279, respectively.
"Isaac is going to be a great player. We started Schafer Magana Saturday because Wichita State went with a left-hander. Schafer got two hits so we stayed with him and he got two more Sunday," said Trapasso. "Isaac got a little tentative in the Sacramento State series and that happens, but he will play a lot of baseball for us this year. He will be fine."
Green, a left-handed batter who swings like he wants every ball he hits to land in Kaimuki, knows what he is doing wrong, according to Trapasso.
"It's his competitiveness. The great statistic for Josh is he is hitting .400 against left-handers. That's because he can't take the big swing because they keep him under control. Josh knows he has to do that against right-handers. It's a pretty simple adjustment," said Trapasso.
A first: Rocky Russo said he never had walked five times in a game before Wichita State pitchers gave him a free pass the first five times he went to the plate in Saturday's game.
"Patience hasn't always been part of my game, but this year I'm trying to get better pitches, make a better pitch selection," said Russo, a freshman from Monterey, Calif. "I just try and stay back and hit the ball deep."
Win and they will come: The three-game series against Wichita State drew 6,286 fans, the biggest three-day draw since the 2001 season.
"Our fans were outstanding this weekend. They came out. They were loud. There were lots of them. I think they saw that we will give them something to cheer about and they will watch a great game every night," said Trapasso.
ET update: Wichita State will return in 2005 for the Rainbow Easter Tournament. Joining the Rainbows in the field are Arizona State, South Florida and Sacramento State.
"I may leave it at five teams and play a round-robin or perhaps get a sixth team," said Trapasso.
WAC tournament: The conference coaches told Western Athletic Conference officials in a conference call last November that they want a postseason baseball tournament. The coaches wanted one next year, but the WAC did not include the request in this year's business, so the earliest is 2005.
"It still has to be approved by the competition committee and the athletic directors," said Trapasso. "I hope it happens. A tournament is fun. We're here to give the kids a great education and play baseball game. I know at Georgia Tech we were a bubble team, but went deep into the ACC tournament and received an at-large bid."