[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH second baseman Schafer Magana turned a double play after forcing Hilo's Tom Henderson.
’Bows score early,
coast past Vulcans
Ricky Bauer pitched seven strong innings before running into trouble in the eighth last night at Murakami Stadium but still won his third game of the season in front of 1,222 fans.
Bauer's job was made easier when his teammates put three runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning. The easy part ended in the eighth when the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans roughed up the junior right-hander for five hits and three runs, the first earned runs Bauer had allowed in 23 1/3 innings.
The key hit for Hilo was a two-out, two-run single to center by Kaliko Oligo. When Sean Tamura also singled, Guy McDowell came out of the bullpen to end the inning by striking out Johnny Dudoit.
The Hawaii-Manoa Rainbows added single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings to win 6-3, their 99th victory over the Vulcans in 118 meetings.
"We wanted to extend Ricky and try and get him to 100 pitches, but it is still early in the season. When he lost it, he lost it quick," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "He lost his command. He didn't have life on his pitches. His slider and changeup weren't biting the way they normally do."
Bauer had only thrown 75 pitches through seven innings, but 18 pitches into the eighth, he was done.
The Rainbows erupted for three two-out runs in the first inning off UHH starter John Matson.
Matt Inouye singled sharply to left, stole second and went to third when Josh Green chopped a high bouncer just past the mound toward second that attracted three Vulcans but left no one covering first base. Creighton Kahoali'i was hit with a 2-2 pitch, loading the bases.
Andrew Sansaver, off to a slow start at the plate for the second consecutive season and carrying a .152 average entering the game, went the other way with Matson's first pitch, lining the ball into the left-field corner for a three-run double.
"Facing a soft lefty, I thought I would get something away and I did. I put a good swing on it," said Sansaver. "I didn't expect anything in close right away and I guessed right."
Brian Finegan started the third inning with his second double of the season, an opposite-field shot into the right-field corner that one-hopped the wall. He took third on Inouye's groundout and scored when Green reached first on a fielding error by UHH first baseman Tom Henderson.
The Rainbows upped the score to 5-0 with another two-out run in the fifth.
Green ended a string of five consecutive UH batters unable to get the ball out of the infield, by dumping a soft liner into right-center for a single. Kahoali'i was hit by a pitch for the second time, tying a single-game record held by many. Sansaver beat out a slow bouncer between first and second to load the bases. Inouye then scored on a wild pitch.
Greg Kish started the sixth with a shot in the hole that UHH shortstop Jonathan Cabral dove for, but had the ball ricochet off the tip of his glove into short left. On Schafer Magana's sacrifice bunt, Matson's throw to first hit Magana, allowing him to reach first and Kish to take third. Kish scored on Robbie Wilder's fielder's choice grounder.
Through the first six innings, Bauer allowed just two hits, a second-inning single to Henderson and a single to center by Cabral in the third. Both runners were erased on double plays. Bauer then retired the Vulcans in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
His run of 12 consecutive Vulcans retired ended on Dudoit's two-out single to left in the seventh.
McDowell walked the first batter he faced in the ninth on four pitches, but got pinch hitter Kahekili Santos to hit into a double play, UH's third of the game, then fanned Chris Savio to earn the team's first save of the year.
Notes: The Rainbows' first triple of the season was delivered by Kahoali'i in the seventh when his high drive landed at the base of the wall just to the right of the 385-foot sign. ... Nate Thurber's double in the eighth extended his streak of consecutive games with an extra-base hit to five.
Hawaii 6, Hilo 3
E--Henderson; Matson. DP--Hilo 1; Hawai'i 3. LOB--Hilo 3, Hawaii 8. 2B--Cabral; Finegan; Sansaver; Thurber. 3B--Kahoali'i. SH--Magana. SB--Inouye. CS--Wilder.
UHH AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Oligo cf 4 0 1 2 Wilder cf 5 0 1 1 Tamura rf 4 0 1 0 Finegan ss 5 1 1 0 Dudoit 3b 4 0 1 0 Inouye c 4 1 1 0 Henderson 1b 3 0 1 0 Green rf 4 2 2 1 Hawkins pr 0 0 0 0 Kahoali'i 3b 2 1 1 0 McLaughlin dh 3 0 1 0 Sansaver 1b 3 0 2 3 Oketani pr 0 1 0 0 Thurber dh 4 0 1 0 Santos ph 1 0 0 0 Kish lf 3 1 1 0 Savio c 4 0 0 0 Magana 2b 2 0 0 0 Chu lf 3 1 1 0 Cabral ss 3 1 2 1 Rhodes 2b 2 0 0 0 Caviglia ph 1 0 0 0 Ball 0 0 0 0 Totals 32 3 8 3 Totals 32 6 10 5 Hilo (4-12) 000 000 030 -- 3 8 2 Hawaii (6-5) 301 011 00x -- 6 10 0
WP--Matson. HBP--by Matson (Kahoali'i); by Matson (Sansaver); by Matson (Kahoali'i); by Daugherty (Kish). Umpires--Keoki Torres, Don Greman (first), Mike Evans (third). T--2:31. A--1,222.
Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Matson (L, 1-1) 6.0 8 6 4 1 2 Daugherty 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (W, 3-1) 7.2 8 3 3 0 7 McDowell 1.1 0 0 0 1 2
