KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Keahi Rawlins shut out Fresno State for seven innings to win his first WAC start.

’Bows sweep
Bulldogs

Hawaii overcomes its hitting
woes with shutout pitching

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By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com

There were smiles on the faces of the Hawaii Rainbows, players and coaches alike, after yesterday afternoon's game at Murakami Stadium. The grins were a little bigger than those quietly flashed Saturday night.

There was no jumping up and down or big-time back slapping, not a lot of boasting, just a happy realization by the Rainbows that they had swept a Western Athletic Conference baseball series. That was a sensation only five of the 26 active players on the roster had felt in their UH careers.

Keahi Rawlins and Rich Olsen combined to blank the Bulldogs 2-0 on five hits before 1,066 fans on Easter Sunday.

It was Rawlins' first start in a conference game and he pitched seven innings, his longest outing of the season.

"I'm really glad with the job my defense did," said Rawlins, who threw mostly fastballs with an occasional slider and two change-ups.

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM UH second baseman Schafer Magana took the throw from catcher Brian Bock to catch Fresno State's Ryan Rothford stealing in the third inning yesterday.

Rawlins had little trouble in the first three innings, but created a bit of difficulty for himself in the fourth by hitting leadoff batter Cody Smith. The freshman right-hander was in danger of putting a second Bulldog on base when he threw three consecutive balls to Scott Beshears. However, Beshears swung at the 3-0 pitch and popped out in foul territory to third baseman Brent Cook. Two pitches later, Rawlins got Casey McGehee to hit into a double play to end the inning.

"That 3-0 pop-up was big," said Rawlins. "With the defense behind me, I just wanted to let them put the ball in play to see how it would work out. I didn't feel tired after seven innings, but told the coaches the blister (middle finger, right hand) was starting to bother me."

"Keahi's key was pretty much throwing strikes," said catcher Brian Bock. "He has great movement on his fastball and many times neither of us know where it is going."

The Rainbows (23-19, 5-13 WAC) scored single runs against the Bulldogs (21-20, 7-8 WAC) in the fourth and fifth innings.

Andrew Sansaver drew a lead-off walk in the fourth inning that led to the first run of the game. Cook sacrificed Sansaver to second and he scored on Rocky Russo's single to center.

UH third base coach Brian Green initially planned on holding Sansaver at third, but when Fresno State center fielder Beshears stumbled while leaning backward a bit, Green waved Sansaver on and he beat the throw to the plate standing up.

The Rainbows put a second run on the board in the fifth. FSU's second pitcher, Toby Girazion, hit Tim Montgomery on a 1-2 pitch to start the inning. Bock beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt for an infield single with Montgomery taking second.

On Schafer Magana's sacrifice bunt, FSU third baseman McGehee threw to second in time get Bock as Montgomery advanced to third. Brian Finegan hit Girazion's first pitch to left for a sacrifice fly as Montgomery scored.

Bryan Wolfenbarger bailed the Bulldogs out of a tenuous situation in the bottom of the seventh after Jaziel Mendoza opened the inning with a single to right, ending Girazion's day on the mound.

Matt Inouye faked a bunt and slapped a single to right, with Mendoza stopping at second. Montgomery's sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with one out. But Wolfenbarger caught Bock looking on a 2-2 pitch and got Magana to pop up to second baseman Ryan Haag to avert further damage.

"The truth this weekend is we rose to the occasion on the mound. We pitched well for 26 of the 27 innings," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "We do need to do a better job of scoring runs, but this weekend we scored enough because of our pitching."

UH pitchers held the Bulldogs to a .206 (20 for 97) batting average in sweeping the three-game series.

Olsen gave up a two-out walk in the eighth but followed up by striking out Smith.

In the ninth, the freshman right-hander retired the first two Bulldogs on ground balls, then surrendered a single to Kent Sakamoto and walked Chris Patrick, both on full counts. He then went to a full count on Tory Davis, but ended the game with a fastball on the outside corner for a called third strike.

"Rich was having a problem throwing his curveball, which is his best pitch, for strikes, so with Davis up there we decided to go all fastballs," said Trapasso.

Hawaii's next game is at home against San Jose State in the opener of a three-game WAC series Friday at 6:35 p.m.

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WAC standings WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Rice 16 2 .889 -- 37 6 Nevada 10 4 .714 4 21 18 Fresno St. 7 8 .467 7 1/2 21 20 San Jose St. 6 11 .353 9 1/2 20 21 x-Louisiana Tech 6 12 .333 10 13 24 Hawaii 5 13 .278 11 23 19 x-also has one nonconference tie Yesterday Nevada 6, Rice 5 Hawaii 2, Fresno State 0 Hawaii 2, Fresno State 0 Fresno St. AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Haag 2b 3 0 1 0 Finegan ss 3 0 1 1 Smith rf 3 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 2 1 0 0 Beshears cf 4 0 0 0 Cook 3b 1 0 0 0 McGehee 3b 4 0 1 0 Russo dh 4 0 1 1 Sakamoto dh 4 0 2 0 Mendoza lf 2 0 1 0 Patrick ss 1 0 0 0 Inouye rf 4 0 1 0 Davis lf 3 0 0 0 Montgomery cf 1 1 1 0 Pierce 1b 3 0 1 0 Bock c 3 0 1 0 Rothford c 1 0 0 0 Magana 2b 1 0 0 0 Marcelli c 1 0 0 0 Total 27 0 5 0 Total 21 2 6 2 Fresno State 000 000 000 -- 0 5 0 Hawaii 000 110 00x -- 2 6 0 DP--FS 3; Hawaii 3. LOB--FS 7; Hawaii 7. 2B--Pierce. HBP-- Smith; Montgomery. SE -- Patrick; Sansaver; Cook; Montgomery; Magana. SF--Finegan. SB--Cook. 2. CS--Rothford; Montgomery. Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Do (L, 2-1) 3 1/3 2 1 1 4 1 Girazian 2 2/3 2 1 1 0 0 Wolfenbarger 2 2 0 0 2 2 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Rawlins (W, 4-2) 7 4 0 0 3 2 Olsen (S, 2) 2 1 0 0 2 2 Girazian faced one batter in the seventh. WP-- Rawlins. HBP--by Rawlins (Smith); by Girazian (Montgomery). BK -- Wolfenbarger. Umpires--HP:Bill Speck, 1B: Joe Burleson, 3B: Jim LeBeau. T--2:26. A--1,066.

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