DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Tim Montgomery slid into second, forcing Western Illinois' Chris Schmidgall to throw past first. Batter Isaac Omura was safe on the play. Omura later scored on a Brian Finegan triple.
’Bows open tourney The Hawaii Rainbows won their opener in the Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament last night and, at the same time, ended a three-game losing streak.
with a win
The 9-1 victory against Western
Illinois ends a three-game skidBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Rainbows played well in all phases of the game to complement an outstanding pitching effort by sophomore right-hander Ricky Bauer.
Hawaii pounded four Western Illinois pitchers for 14 hits, including seven for extra bases in the 9-1 victory at Murakami Stadium.
The most impressive aspect of Bauer's performance was his economy of pitches. He needed only 75 to produce UH's second complete game of the season.
"That is as good as I've seen Ricky throw in a long time. To pitch a complete game in under 80 pitches is rare," said Rainbows coach Mike Trapasso. "We changed his arm angle a couple of weeks ago and it looks like he is getting comfortable with it."
Besides the offensive backing, the Rainbows played errorless ball and turned three double plays in support of Bauer.
"Rickey was throwing all his pitches (fastball, slider and changeup) for strikes. He was getting them to put the ball in play," said batterymate Brian Bock.
Bauer agreed with that assessment.
"We had it flowing tonight, were in a rhythm and I felt good," Bauer said. "My arm angle is a high three-quarters, like I was in high school. This makes the two-seam fastball dive in toward a right-hand hitter's feet. My slider has a late break because of the tight spin and the changeup comes in looking like a fastball but dives at the end."
The Rainbows (15-12) connected for four consecutive hits with one out in the second to start a three-run inning.
Tim Montgomery legged out a high chopper to short for an infield single and scored on the next pitch as Isaac Omura ripped it into the right-field corner for a triple. The three bagger extended the freshman second baseman's hitting streak to 12 games.
Taking a cue from Omura, Brian Finegan lashed an RBI single to right on the first pitch. He raced to third on a wild pickoff throw to first by Western Illinois starter Steve Whitson and scored on Andrew Sansaver's ground-rule double just to the left of the scoreboard.
Hawaii increased its lead to 5-0 in the fourth, knocking Whitson out of the game. Montgomery walked on a full count but was forced at second on Omura's ground ball to WIU shortstop Ryan Schmidgall, who stepped on second but threw the ball into the UH dugout, allowing Omura to take second.
Finegan tripled over the right fielder's head to score Omura, then came home on Sansaver's sacrifice fly to right.
Bauer's first pitch in the sixth inning hit Pete Tronick, and the Leathernecks' catcher eventually scored. After pinch hitter Nick Simmons singled to center, Schmidgall advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt and Tronick came home on Clint Buchen's ground out.
Brent Cook and Russo walked with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Cook scored on Josh Green's single to right and Russo kept coming to the plate when right fielder John Bertulis misplayed the ball.
Hawaii's final two runs came on Montgomery fifth homer of the season and back-to-back triples by Sansaver and Cook in the seventh inning.
Nick Ponomarenko will start on the mound for UH tonight. Lewis-Clark State will start junior right-hander Marc Kaiser, a transfer from Arizona.
"He probably has the best arm in the tournament," said Trapasso.
In the tournament opener, Lewis-Clark State defeated Air Force 3-2.
The Warriors (21-4) had to rally twice to edge the Falcons (8-16), who took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, but ended up losing their seventh consecutive game.
Air Force starter Ken Hodgson, who held the Warriors to one run and three hits through eight innings, walked Neil Litchfield to start the ninth. Reliever Jason Pruitt then walked Justin Fuller. Allen Balmer, whose father Gary played in this tournament for the Warriors in the early '80s, singled to right, loading the bases. Paul Gallegos then sent a looping liner over the drawn-in infield to score Pruitt and Fuller.
"You gotta give both pitchers credit. I'm sure there was frustration for all the hitters today. I know we had no patience at the plate," said LCSC coach Ed Cheff.
The Falcons scored in the first inning when Mike Rose singled to right, moved to second on a wild pickoff throw to first by LCSC starter Nic Puckett, took third on Daniel Petro's single and scored on Josh Phifer's sacrifice fly to center.
The Warriors tied the score in the eighth inning. Kapaa graduate Micah Furtado started the inning with a ground single into right field. He advanced to second on Jose Rodrigues' sacrifice bunt, took third on a balk by AFA starter Ken Hodgson, then scored on a wild pitch.
"We've been trying to get Micah to hit ground balls. He had three lazy fly balls before that hit," said Cheff.
The Falcons went ahead by a run in the top of the ninth when Josh Phifer reached on an infield single and scored on Zach McAngus' double to the alley in right center. McAngus, a freshman second baseman from Kamehameha, went 2-for-4.
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Standings: Hawaii and Lewis-Clark State 1-0, Air Force and Western Illinois, 0-1 Schedule and results
Yesterday: Lewis-Clark State 3, Air Force 2; Hawaii 9, Western Illinois 1
Today: Air Force vs. Western Illinois, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Lewis-Clark State, 6:35 p.m.
Tomorrow: Western Illinois vs. Lewis-Clark State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Air Force, 6:35 p.m.
Friday: Semifinal games at 2:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m.
Saturday: Third place 2:30 p.m.; Championship, 6:35 p.m.
Note: UH plays at 6:35 p.m. regardless of results. All UH games live on KFVE (Channel 5) and KKEA (1420 AM).
Hawaii 9, Western Illinois 1
WIU (9-11) AB R H BI UH (15-12) AB R H BI Schmidgall ss 3 0 0 0 Finegan ss 5 2 2 2 Buchen lf 4 0 1 1 Russell ss 0 0 0 0 Schultz cf 4 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 2 2 Cougill 2b 4 0 1 0 Cook lf 2 1 1 1 Rooney 1b 3 0 1 0 Russo 3b 3 1 1 0 Bertulis rf 2 0 0 0 Green rf 4 0 2 1 Martinez ph/rf 1 0 0 0 Gilbride ph/rf 1 0 0 0 Milliken dh 3 0 0 0 Bock c 4 0 1 0 Tronick c 2 1 2 0 Jackson 1 0 0 0 Corpus c 0 0 0 0 Inouye ph/c 3 0 0 0 Stambaugh 3b 1 0 0 0 Wightman dh 2 0 1 0 Simmons ph/3b 2 0 1 0 Montg'mry cf 3 2 2 1 Guillen ph/cf 0 0 0 0 Omura 2b 5 2 2 1 Totals 29 1 6 1 Total 37 9 14 8 E -- Schmidgall, Bertulis, Stambaugh, Whitson. DP -- UH 3. LOB -- WIU 3, UH 12. 2B -- Tronick, Sansaver, Wightman. 3B -- Finegan, Sansaver, Cook. HR -- Montgomery. HBP -- Tronick, Russo, Guillen. SH -- Schmidgall. SF -- Sansaver. SB -- Cook 2.
W. Illinois 000 001 000 -- 1 6 4 Hawaii 030 202 20x -- 9 14 0
WP -- Whitson, Bauer. HBP -- by Whitson (Russo); by Bauer (Tronick); by Powell (Guillen). Umpires -- Torres (HP), Evans (1b), Montalbo (3b). T -- 2:35. A -- 984.
W. Illinois IP H R ER BB SO Whitson (L, 1-3) 3 7 5 5 2 1 Prater 1 0 0 0 1 1 Shore 2.1 6 4 3 2 0 Powell 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (W, 2-1) 9 6 1 1 0 6 Lewis-Clark St. 3, Air Force 2
No outs when winning run scored
Hodgson, Pruitt (9) and Petro; Nic Puckett, Scott Fairbanks (9) and Gavin Concepcion, Tyler Best (8). W--Fairbanks (3-2). L--Pruitt (0-3).
Air Force 100 000 001 -- 2 8 0 Lewis-Clark St. 000 000 012 -- 3 5 1
Leading hitters--AFU: McAngus, 2-4, 2b; Frost, 2-4. LCSU: Paul Gallegos, 2-4, 2b, 2 RBIs.
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