Rainbows swept HOUSTON >> The incredible winning streak continues for No. 1-ranked Rice.
by nation’s top team
Hawaii is no match for Rice,
WAC standings
which is five wins away
from an NCAA recordFrom staff and wire reports
The Owls played a typical game featuring excellent pitching and timely hitting when given scoring opportunities.
Rice swept the three-game Western Athletic Conference series from Hawaii, winning 8-1 yesterday at Reckling Park before 2,614 fans under overcast skies.
The Owls (32-1, 12-0 WAC) have won 29 consecutive games, five short of tying the NCAA Division I record shared by Texas and Florida State.
"We can't take much from this series. We battled, but we just didn't get it done," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso.
"The good thing is we don't play these guys any more and the rest of the conference has a lot of games left with them.
"We have 22 games remaining and we need to get a little better, play with a little more passion and we'll be all right."
Brian Finegan and Brent Cook singled to right to open the game. Finegan raced to third and scored on Andrew Sansaver's grounder. That was all the Hawaii (17-17, 1-11 WAC) offense could muster.
After scoring three runs in the first two innings of Friday's opener, Hawaii managed just one run in the last 25 innings against Rice pitching.
UH starter Chris George had good and bad innings, with the good ones coming in the second, fourth and sixth, when he faced the bottom of the Owls' lineup and the not so good ones in the odd innings.
Rice took a 2-1 lead in the third on an RBI double by Paul Janish and Chris Stansberry's groundout.
In the fifth and seventh innings, George retired the first two Rice batters in the lineup, but gave up a single to No. 3 hitter Vincent Sinisi and walked cleanup batter Austin Davis each time. Stansberry made the senior right-hander pay with a two-run triple in the fifth and a two-run double in the seventh.
"Chris kept getting behind and walking guys he was trying to be careful with. He put himself in a position where he had to come in with a pitch. He played with fire all day," said Trapasso.
"Chris was pitching aggressively, but he wasn't throwing his breaking ball for strikes. They only way you can hold these guys at bay is to throw three pitches for strikes the way Ricky Bauer did (Saturday)."
The Rainbows travel to Shreveport, La., today and play Centenary in a nonconference game tomorrow. Hawaii leads the all-time series with the Gents 2-0. Keahi Rawlins will be on the mound for UH.
Notes: Matt Inouye has a pulled muscle in his upper back and is day to day as far as being able to play. ... Rainbow batters were 16 for 94 (.170) vs. Rice pitching. Sansaver had five of those hits.
UH Athletics
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WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 12 0 1.000 - 32 1 .969 Nevada 7 2 .778 3 1/2 17 15 .531 Fresno St. 6 3 .667 4 1/2 19 15 .559 SJSU 4 8 .333 8 17 17 .500 x-La Tech 3 9 .250 9 10 21 .323 Hawaii 1 11 .083 11 17 17 .500 x-also has one nonconference tie
Tomorrow
Hawaii at Centenary, 2 p.m. Hawaii time
Yesterday
Rice 8, Hawaii 1
SJSU 3, Fresno State 0
Nevada 11, Louisiana Tech 6
Saturday
Rice 2, Hawaii 0
Nevada 10, Louisiana Tech 3 (completion of suspended game)
Nevada 8, Louisiana Tech 5
San Jose State 4, Fresno State 3
Rice 8, Hawaii 1
Hawaii AB R H BI Rice AB R H BI Finegan ss 4 1 1 0 Jorgensen cf 5 2 2 0 Cook 3b 3 0 1 0 Janish ss 3 1 1 1 Sansaver 1b 4 0 2 1 Emerson 3b 0 0 0 0 Bock c 2 0 0 0 Sinisi 1b 3 2 3 2 Montgomry ph 1 0 0 0 Davis rf 2 2 0 0 Green rf 3 0 0 0 Stansberry 3b 4 0 2 5 Russo ph 1 0 0 0 Ueckert dh 4 0 0 0 Wightman lf 3 0 0 0 Pendleton lf 4 0 0 0 Gilbride dh 4 0 0 0 Cruz 2b 4 0 1 0 Guillen cf 2 0 1 0 Ruchti c 4 1 1 0 Omura 2b 3 0 0 0 Totals 30 1 5 1 Totals 33 8 10 8
Hawaii 100 000 000 -- 1 5 0 Rice 002 020 22X -- 8 10 1 E -- Cruz (4). DP -- Rice 1 (Sinisi-Janish-Sinisi). LOB -- Hawaii 6, Rice 8. 2B -- Janish (4), Stansberry (110, Cruz (10). 3B--Stansberry (2). S -- Bock (6). SB--Jorgensen (13), Sinisi (8). CS -- Cruz (1).
Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO George (L, 4-5) 6 2/3 7 6 6 6 5 Carlsen 1 1/3 3 2 2 2 2
Rice IP H R ER BB SO Baker (W, 7-0) 7 5 1 1 1 5 Herce 1 0 0 0 0 1 Aardsma 1 0 0 0 1 2 HBP -- Cook (by Baker). Umpires -- HP: Ray Belfiore. 1b: Ron Ridd. 3b: Larry King. T -- 2:25. A -- 2,614.
