KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brian Finegan beat the throw home to score against Hawaii-Hilo last night. The Rainbows beat the Vulcans 12-4.
’Bows finish The Hawaii Rainbow baseball team completed a sweep of its four-game series against the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans this season with a 12-4 victory at Murakami Stadium last night.
sweep of Vulcans
UH uses six pitchers to improve
to 20-19 with win over HiloBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Hawaii (20-19) offense was led by Brian Finegan, who had three hits, including two doubles, and scored three runs. Brent Cook also had three hits and two runs batted in. Rocky Russo and Tim Montgomery managed two hits apiece and knocked in two runs.
A sextet of UH pitchers -- Keahi Rawlins, Justin Cayetano, Rich Olsen, Mike Peck, Bryan Lee and Guy McDowell -- limited the Vulcans to three hits, although it was not an entirely clean performance by the staff. Rawlins and Peck each hit two batters and McDowell one.
Olsen was the most effective, retiring all six batters he faced, and Lee had a perfect eighth.
"It was good to get out there and swing the bats the way we did in the first inning," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso. "We hit four shots, all to the opposite field which is a good way to come out of the gate. I think that took the emotion out of the game for them."
The Rainbows teed off on Hilo starter Daniel Lockett for four runs in the first inning.
Finegan singled to right and went all the way to third on Andrew Sansaver's sacrifice bunt up the third-base line when the Vulcans failed to cover the bag.
Cook lined a ball just inside the first-base bag about a foot off the ground for a run-scoring double into the right-field corner. He scored on a double off the center field wall by Russo. Montgomery tripled off the wall in right-center on the first pitch he saw to score Russo, then came home on Isaac Omura's ground out.
Hawaii put four more runs on the scoreboard in the second inning and ended Lockett's outing in the process.
The inning started when Hilo third baseman Alan Sarmiento bobbled Josh Green's high bouncer for an error. Jaziel Mendoza sacrificed Green to second from where he scored on Finegan's double to center.
Sansaver sent a soft liner to left for a single and Finegan beat the throw to the plate by David Chu. Sansaver took second on the throw home, moved to third on a balk and scored on Cook's sacrifice fly to right.
When Russo lined a single to center, Hilo coach Joey Estrella went to the bullpen and brought in Tyson Usui. A passed ball followed by a wild pitch advanced Russo to third from where he scored on Montgomery's single to left.
However, Rawlins could not stand the prosperity of an 8-0 lead and experienced control problems in the top of the third inning that led to three Vulcan runs.
Rawlins walked leadoff batter Kevin Drever on a 3-2 pitch, then surrendered singles to Sean Tamura and Kaliko Oligo as the Vulcans loaded the bases. After a visit from UH pitching coach Chad Konishi, Rawlins fanned Chu, but the wildness returned when he hit Nalei Sooto to force in a run.
Scott McLachlin's sacrifice fly to deep right-center sent Tamura home. Oligo took third on the long fly and scored on a Rawlins' wild pitch. When the freshman right-hander walked Chris Savio on a 3-2 count, Cayetano was summoned from the bullpen. The senior reliever walked the first batter he faced, but fanned Sarmiento to end the inning.
"There was no question Keahi lost his focus in the third inning. We told him all along he was going to go two or three innings," said Trapasso.
Konishi said, "It looked like he wasn't in control of the rubber. Keahi wasn't standing tall. His body wags getting ahead of his arm just a bit which affects his command and ability to locate his fastball."
The Rainbows upped the score to 9-3 in the fourth when Cook doubled to left, stole third and scored on a balk.
Finegan, who was hit by a pitch with two outs, stole second and took third on an error, scored when Usui hit Russo with a pitch and the bases loaded in the fifth for a 10-3 lead.
Hawaii 12, Hawaii-Hilo 4
Hawaii-Hilo AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Oligo cf 5 1 2 1 Finegan ss 4 3 3 1 Chu lf 3 0 0 0 Russell ph-ss 0 0 0 0 Oketani lf 1 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 4 1 1 1 Sooto c 3 0 0 1 Cook 3b 3 2 3 2 McLaughln 1b 2 0 0 1 Russo dh 3 2 2 2 Savio dh 3 0 0 0 Wightman dh 1 0 0 0 Nssimbene 2b 2 0 0 0 Montgmry cf 4 1 2 2 Sarmiento 3b 3 0 0 0 Guillen cf 0 0 0 0 Rhodes 3b 0 1 0 0 Omura 2b 3 0 0 1 Drever ss 3 1 0 0 Magana 2b 1 1 1 0 Tamura rf 3 1 1 0 Bock c 4 0 0 0 Jackson c 1 0 1 0 Green rf 3 1 0 0 Gilbride rf 1 0 1 1 Mendoza lf 4 1 1 0 Totals 29 4 3 3 Totals 36 12 15 10 E--Nassindene; Sarmiento; DP--UHH 1; LOB-- UHH 7, Hawaii 9; 2B-- Finnegan 2, Cook 2, Russo; 3B Montgomery; SH--Sansaver, Mendoza; SF--MacLaughlin, Cook. SB--Finnegan, Cook, Montgomery.
Hawaii-Hilo 003 000 001 -- 4 3 2 Hawaii 440 110 11x -- 12 15 0
WP--Usui, Daugherty, Rollins, McDowell 2. HBP--by Rollins (by Nassinbene) by Rollins (Sooto); by Usui (Finnegan), by Usui (Russo); by Peck (Tamura); by Peck (Chiu); by McDowell (Rhoades). BK--Lockett; Usui. PB--Sooto.
Hawaii-Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Lockett (L, 1-5) 1.2 7 8 5 0 0 Usui 4.1 2 2 1 4 3 Daugherty 1.0 3 1 1 0 0 Inaba 1.0 3 1 1 0 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Rollins (W, 3-2) 2.2 2 3 3 2 4 Cayetano 1.1 0 0 0 1 2 Olsen 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 Peck 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Lee 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Mcdowell 1.0 1 1 1 0 2
Umpires--Keoki Torres (plate), Don Greman (first), Evans (third). T--2:49. A--554 (turnstile).
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