GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii infielder Schafer Magana tried to turn the double play as Rice's Vincent Sinisi slid in last night's game.
No. 2 Owls It had to be enticing for any hitter.
too much
for ’Bows
Hawaii hangs around but can’t
catch up in series openerBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comA 90-plus mph fastball thrown by Rice's Jeff Niemann. It was impressive and intimidating, just like the 6-foot-9 Niemann, a sophomore who came into last night's 9-4 Western Athletic Conference baseball win over Hawaii with a 4-0 record, a 1.48 ERA and a national pitcher of the week honor earned last month.
Rocky Russo had seen it in the second inning. In fact, the freshman third baseman watched one blow by for a called third strike in the second inning.
Russo didn't need another look when he came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth with Brian Finegan at second and the Rainbows trailing 3-0. Russo drilled Niemann's first offering some 385 feet over the center-field wall at Murakami Stadium to give Hawaii some hope in closing the gap to 3-2.
One run was the closest Hawaii would come to No. 2 Rice in a game that was much closer than the final score. The Owls (17-1, 4-0 WAC) scored twice in the sixth and added three in the ninth to pull away for the win over the Rainbows (13-6, 1-3) in front of 1,964 fans.
"It was our plan, first pitch, fast ball, swing away," said Russo, who finished 2-for-3 and his second homer of the season. "I thought it was going to be worse than it was, but he wasn't as tall as I thought he was going to be.
"We just need to get those clutch hits at the right time. We feel real good about tomorrow."
It was Rice's 14th consecutive victory, its 11th straight conference win dating back to last season and the seventh in a row over Hawaii. The Owls take a 6-0 road record into today's second game of the series at 6:35 p.m.
"The only disappointing part of the whole game was the ninth," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso. "They kept getting their leadoff guys on and that's going to kill you. When you're down by two and you have momentum on your side, which I thought we did, you have to put a zero up in the ninth to give yourself a chance.
"I'm proud of our guys because they battled through every pitch. The games we're going to win against Rice are going to have be low-scoring games. If we end up getting in a slugfest, it's not going to happen, not with the (pitching) staff they've got. When you give up nine, you're not going to beat Rice."
Trailing 5-2, Hawaii made things interesting with single runs in the sixth and seventh. The first came on freshman Isaac Omura's solo homer, when the designated hitter blasted the first pitch some 330 feet to right for his first home run of the season.
"It felt all right, but it didn't give us the lead," said Omura, a Mid-Pacific product who started the year at second. "I was hoping it would go out. It was a pretty good pitch, but I had a pretty good swing and I got lucky.
"The freshmen ... when we get a chance to play, we just try to make the most of it, especially me, trying to get back into the lineup."
The Rainbows closed to 5-4 in the seventh when Russo scored on Brian Bock's one-out single. But Bock was stranded when Niemann struck out Tim Montgomery for his ninth strikeout and second baseman Schafer Magana grounded out.
Hawaii threatened in the ninth, with Brent Cook leading off with a single to left and Russo following with a walk. That chased Niemann (5-0), who finished with nine strikeouts, scattering seven hits and walking just one.
Reliever David Aardsma got the Owls out of the jam, striking out Kevin Gilbride and getting Brian Bock to hit into a game-ending double play.
What Niemann's arm didn't take care of early on, that of his catcher, Justin Ruchti, did. Hawaii had two baserunners through three innings; both were erased via throws from Ruchti to second baseman Enrique Cruz -- Andrew Sansaver in the first and Montgomery in the third.
Rice struck early with leadoff batter Jeff Jorgensen connecting on Chris George's first pitch for a single to right. Jorgensen eventually scored from third on a fielder's choice by Austin Davis to put the Owls up 1-0.
Rice added two more in the second, highlighted by Cruz's RBI single to left that extended the junior left fielder's hitting streak to five games. Ruchti's sacrifice bunt, the Owls' second of the inning, scored Dane Bubela for a 3-0 lead.
After Hawaii closed to 3-2, Rice added two runs in the sixth. The Owls again answered after the Rainbows pulled to within 5-4, with an insurance run in the eighth when Craig Stansberry -- on with a leadoff double -- scored on a fielder's choice as Ruchti hit into a double play.
The Owls added two runs on four hits in the second, including a ground-rule double by Cruz that scored Bubela. Rice broke open the game in the ninth, using two hits, an error and a hit batter to score three times.
George (4-2) took the loss, going seven-plus innings. The senior gave up 12 hits and struck out four.
Rice 9, Hawaii 4
RICE (17-1, 4-0) AB R H BI UH (13-6, 1-3) AB R H BI Jorgenson cf 5 1 2 1 Finegan ss 4 1 1 0 Kolkhorst lf 4 1 2 0 Sansaver 1b 4 0 1 0 Sinisi 1b 4 1 1 0 Cook lf 4 0 1 0 Davis rf 4 1 2 2 Russo 3b 3 2 2 2 Janish ss 4 1 1 0 Green rf 2 0 0 0 Bubela dh 4 2 1 1 Gilbride rf 2 0 0 0 Stansberry 3b 4 2 3 1 Bock c 4 0 1 1 Cruz 2b 5 0 3 2 Montg'ry cf 2 0 0 0 Ruchti c 3 0 0 1 Magana 2b 3 0 0 0 Omura dh 3 1 1 0 Totals 37 4 15 8 Total 31 4 7 4
Rice 120 002 013 -- 9 15 0 Hawaii 000 201 100 -- 4 7 2 E -- Sansaver, Bock.
DP -- Rice 1, UH 2.
LOB -- Rice 8, UH 2.
2B -- Kolkhorst, Stansberry 2, Cruz, Finegan.
HR -- Russo, Omura.
HBP -- Kolkhorst.
SH -- Janish, Stansberry, Ruchti.
SB -- Jorgensen 2.
CS -- Davis, Montgomery.
Reached on CI -- Sinisi.
Rice IP H R ER BB SO Niemann (W, 5-0) 8 7 4 3 2 9 Aardsma 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO George (L, 4-2) 7 12 6 6 2 4 Olsen 2 3 3 3 0 0 WP -- Niemann.
HBP -- by Olsen (Kolkhorst).
PB -- Ruchti.
CI -- Bock.
Umpires -- Gilmore (HP), Mattingly (1b), Greman (3b).
T -- 2:47.
A -- 1,964.
UH Athletics
