[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH pitcher Ricky Bauer made his delivery to Florida International's Fernando Alvarez last night.
’Bows meet
expectations
The Hawaii Rainbows emerged from their early-season funk and played baseball the way they and the coaches expected from the start of the season -- at least for one night.
Ricky Bauer pitched eight strong innings and received 15-hit support from his teammates as the Rainbows put the most runs on the scoreboard this season in defeating Florida International 14-6 in the opener of a three-game, nonconference series on a windless evening at Murakami Stadium last night.
The junior right-hander did not walk anyone and fanned five Golden Panther batters.
"I didn't feel like I had overpowering stuff like last week, but I hit my spots better, kept the ball down and let the defense do the work," said Bauer.
Bauer's batterymate, Matt Inouye, and left fielder Josh Green paced the UH attack with three hits apiece and two and three runs batted in.
"Under normal circumstances I would have let Ricky come out for the ninth, but we had some long innings and I wanted to see what the freshman (Matt Buck) could do," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "If they had called the infield fly rule on the pop to first we get out of the ninth without giving up five runs. We gave away the momentum and have to prove it all over again tomorrow."
The Rainbows (2-5) struck first when they sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning and scored five runs on five hits.
Josh Green started UH's biggest run-producing inning of the season with a single off the mound. Creighton Kahoali'i, waiting to lay down a sacrifice bunt, walked on four consecutive pitches from FIU starter Mark Worrell, a right-hander. Andrew Sansaver's sacrifice bunt attempt up the third-base line was so well placed that he beat it out for a single, loading the bases.
One out later, after fouling off two pitches with a full count, Greg Kish lined a two-run single to left, scoring Green and Kahoali'i, with Sansaver stopping at second. Isaac Omura ended an 0-for-14 start to his season by lining a 1-2 pitch to right that scored Sansaver, with Kish stopping at second. Robbie Wilder then drove a two-strike offering to the wall in left-center field that brought Kish and Omura home.
Hawaii extended its lead to 8-0 in a fifth inning that began with Inouye ripping a one-out line drive into the left-field corner for a double. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on Green's sharp liner to left.
Bauer needed just 54 pitchers in facing the minimum number of Golden Panthers (18) through the first six innings. He did not walk a batter and had the opposing batters popping up or hitting grounders for the most part.
"Coach K (Chad Konishi) called a great game tonight," said Inouye. "Rick was pretty much around the plate and got two big double plays early to keep the momentum on our side."
Bauer lost the shutout on an unearned run in the seventh. Luis Rivera reached second on Kahoali'i's throwing error and scored on Michael Lopez's single to center.
Doubles by Magana and Steve Bell-Irving highlighted a three-run bottom of the seventh for UH.
FIU (1-5) scored five runs off the left-handed Buck in the ninth, the last three coming on Dennis Diaz's inside-the-park homer.
Hawaii 14, Florida International 6
E--Bacon (1); Kahoali'i (4). DP--FIU 1; Hawaii 3. LOB--FIU 2, Hawaii 7. 2B-- Wilder (1); Bell-Irving (1); Inouye (4); Thurber (3); Magana (2). HR--Diaz (1). HBP--Finegan. SH--Green. SF--Russo (3). CS--Jacobs.
FIU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Rivera ss 4 2 2 0 Wilder cf 4 1 2 2 Lehmann dh 3 1 1 0 Bell-Irving ph/c 1 1 1 1 Lopez 1b 4 0 1 1 Finegan ss 3 0 0 0 Bacon 3b 3 0 0 0 Hanzawa ph/ss 1 1 0 0 Skellenger ph 1 1 1 0 Inouye c/cf 4 2 3 2 Jacobs c 2 0 1 0 Green rf 4 2 3 3 Otero ph 1 0 0 0 Kahoali'i 3b 2 1 0 0 Monreal c 1 0 0 0 Russo ph/3b 0 0 0 1 Alvarez lf 3 1 1 1 Sansaver 1b 2 2 1 0 Diaz cf 4 1 2 3 Lum ph/1b 1 0 0 0 Yema rf 3 0 0 0 Thurber dh 4 0 1 2 Casanova ph 1 0 0 0 Griffin ph 1 0 0 0 Davila 2b 3 0 0 0 Kish lf 5 1 1 2 Omura 2b 3 1 2 1 Magana pr/2b 2 2 1 0 Totals 33 6 9 5 Totals 37 14 15 14 FIU (1-5) 000 000 105 -- 6 9 1 Hawaii (2-5) 050 032 40x -- 14 15 1
WP--Worrell(3); Cabrera (1). HBP--by Cabrera (Finegan). BK--Cabrera 2 (2). PB--Monreal; Bell-Irving. Umpires--Keoki Torres (home), Jim LeBeau (first), Mike Evans (third). T--3:04. A--980.
FIU IP H R ER BB SO Worrell (L, 0-3) 4.1 8 7 7 2 6 Cabrera 2.2 7 7 7 3 5 Ramirez 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (W, 2-1) 8.0 6 1 0 0 4 Buck 1.0 3 5 4 2 0
