[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii starter Stephen Bryant delivered a pitch to a Hawaii-Hilo batter last night.
2-out runs propel
’Bows past Vulcans
The Hawaii-Manoa batters delivered big hits when it counted most last night at Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbows scored 11 of their 15 runs after two were out in an inning, with Creighton Kahoali'i and Matt Inouye belting home runs to account for seven of those two-out RBIs.
The Rainbows (7-5) pounded out a season-high 20 hits in a 15-3 win over Hawaii-Hilo (4-13), the 100th UH victory in a series that began in 1977.
Andrew Sansaver became the first Rainbow with a four-hit game this year, going 4-for-5 to raise his average from .194 to .268.
Hawaii will go for the series sweep today at 1 p.m. and send senior right-hander Clary Carlsen to the mound.
The 'Bows wanted to get at least one run in the first inning when Robbie Wilder drew a leadoff walk on a full count. They ended up scoring four on one swing of Kahoali'i's bat.
True to his offensive philosophy, UH coach Mike Trapasso had Brian Finegan sacrifice Wilder to second. Matt Inouye's ground-ball single to left moved Wilder to third. Josh Green then was hit by a Scott Siegfried pitch, loading the bases.
Kahoali'i lined Siegfried's next pitch over the left-field wall foul. He fouled the next pitch into the first-base stands, then took a ball before lifting a fly ball high into the night that dropped over the left-center-field wall just left of the 365-foot sign for a grand slam.
"The key the last two games was the quick lead," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "When you do that, everyone can play better and the pitcher relaxes and just concentrates on throwing strikes."
It was the first UH slam since Grady Symonds hit one in the bottom of the ninth inning on the first pitch against UC Irvine on March 3, 2002, that tied the score in a game the 'Bows won in the 12th.
Hawaii went up 5-0 in the second when Wilder was hit by a pitch and scored on Finegan's two-out, ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field fence on the first hop.
The Rainbows made use of a leadoff walk to Finegan to score again in the fifth. Singles by Inouye and Andrew Sansaver brought Finegan across the plate.
UH starter Stephen Bryant, who allowed a two-out, first-inning single to Johnny Dudoit, retired the next 13 Vulcans in order before walking Jonathan Cabral on four pitches to start the sixth inning. Bryant recovered to fan Daniel Rhodes, retired Kaliko Oligo on a pop to short and struck out Sean Tamura on three pitches.
UHH reliever David Daniel walked Nate Thurber and Greg Kish to start the sixth and both scored to become the fifth and sixth Rainbow runners who reached base via a walk or being hit by a pitch to cross home plate. Thurber scored on Schafer Magana's single to left, Kish came home on a wild pitch and Magana would score on Green's single to left for a 9-0 UH lead.
Bryant walked Dudoit and Tom Henderson on eight consecutive balls to start the seventh and was replaced by Chuck Withers, a right-hander making his first appearance of the season. He gave up a single to pinch hitter Ryan Taiariol, loading the bases, then walked in a run with a free pass to David Chu.
Henderson scored on a groundout and Taiariol eventually accounted for the third Vulcan run of the inning when Daniel Rhodes beat out an infield single to deep third.
"Our long inning with the pitching changes was the main thing for Stephen. After the sixth he asked how many more we wanted him to go, one or two innings and that is usually a sign of fatigue setting in," Trapasso.
Bryant, who relied mostly on his fastball and changeup, said, " I lost my focus and that should not happen. I didn't have all my stuff and just had to take a different approach."
The 'Bows responded with a six-run, 10-hit bottom of the seventh, with Inouye's three-run homer over the left-field fence the big blow.
Hawaii 15, Hawaii-Hilo 3
DP--UHH 2. LOB--UHH 5, Hawaii 9. 2B-- Finnegan (3), Kish (3). HR--Inouye (1), Kahoali'i (1). SH--Finegan (3). SB--Wilder (2), Finegan (5).
UHH AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Oligo cf 4 0 0 0 Wilder cf 3 3 1 0 Tamura rf 3 0 0 0 Finegan ss 3 2 2 2 Oketani rf 1 0 0 0 Hanzawa ss 1 0 0 0 Dudoit 3b 2 1 1 0 Inouye c 4 2 3 3 Loque ph 1 0 0 0 Bell-Irving c 1 0 0 0 McCallum ph/3b 1 0 0 0 Green rf 4 2 2 1 Henderson dh 2 1 0 0 Kahoali'i 3b 4 1 1 4 Savio c 2 0 0 0 Russo ph/3b 1 0 1 0 Taiarol ph/c 1 1 1 0 Sansaver 1b 5 0 4 1 Chu lf 2 0 0 1 Thurber dh 3 2 0 0 Santos lf 1 0 0 0 Griffin ph 1 0 1 1 Caviglia 1b 4 0 0 1 Kish lf 3 1 2 0 Cabral ss 2 0 0 0 Lum ph/lf 1 0 0 0 Ball ss 1 0 0 0 Magana 2b 4 2 2 2 Rhodes 2b 3 0 1 1 Omura 2b 1 0 1 0 Hawkins 2b 0 0 0 0 Castillo pr/2b 0 0 0 0 Totals 30 3 3 3 Totals 39 15 20 14 UHH (4-13) 000 000 300 -- 3 3 0 Hawaii (7-5) 410 013 60x -- 15 20 0
WP--Daniel (3), Mead (3). HBP--by Siegfried (Green); by Siegfried (Wilder), by Daniel (Wilder). PB--Savio 2 (3). Umpires--Mike Evans (home), Gary Montalbo (first), JimLeBeau (third). T--3:02. Tickets--2,505.
UHH IP H R ER BB SO Siegfried L (0-3) 4.1 6 6 6 2 1 Daniel 1.1 2 3 3 3 1 Tobin 1 8 6 6 0 0 Hartman 0.1 3 0 0 0 0 Safford 1 1 0 0 0 0 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bryant W (1-0) 6 1 2 2 3 5 Withers 2 2 1 1 1 1 Mead 1 0 0 0 1 1
