[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Isaac Omura tagged out Chicago State's Brandon Roberson last night as the 'Bows advanced to the First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament championship game.
Hawaii enjoys another
rout in tournament
The Hawaii baseball team will defend its First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament title tonight against the Oregon State Beavers of the Pacific-10 Conference.
The Rainbows remained the only undefeated team in the tournament with a 14-0 semifinal victory over Chicago State last night in front of 1,172 fans at Murakami Stadium. The blowout ended after the Cougars' seventh due to the 10-run rule.
In the afternoon semifinal, the No. 3-seeded Beavers reached the championship showdown with a 3-2 comeback win over The Citadel, the No. 2 seed.
Senior right-hander Clary Carlsen (2-3, 4.55 ERA) gets the starting nod for Hawaii at 6:35 tonight. Sophomore right-hander Andy Baldwin (2-1, 3.24) is OSU coach Pat Casey's mound choice.
Steven Wright made his third start of the season for UH and pitched the first five innings. The freshman right-hander allowed one hit, a lazy, looping fly to short center in the fourth inning. He did not walk a batter and struck out one.
Matthew Buck, a freshman left-hander, needed just seven pitches to retire the Cougars in order in the sixth. Freshman left-hander Kaimi Mead pitched the seventh and allowed the Cougars' second hit.
Wright, who had 39 strikes among his 53 pitches, has been working on his mechanics between starts.
"He was better keeping his eyes on the target and keeping his body over the rubber," said UH pitching coach Chad Konishi.
Wright said, " One of the big things I've worked on is I was rushing. My arm was lagging and my pitches were up. Tonight, I just tried to throw strikes, let them put the ball in play because I have a good defense and they will make the plays."
Wright, who was not tired after his five innings, then went to the bullpen and threw another 25 pitches to get used to going longer in a game later in the season.
Hawaii beat Chicago State 12-1 on Tuesday but co-captain Andrew Sansaver said the Rainbows wanted to maintain their momentum by continuing to play their game.
"I think this game proved that the players on our team, when you know a team isn't playing very well, you have to come out and play almost relentless," said Sansaver, who was 3-for-3 with three runs batted in before UH coach Mike Trapasso made wholesale lineup changes.
"You look at Texas and Rice. They play everyone the same way. It doesn't make any difference if their opponent is ranked or below average."
The 'Bows (13-7, 4-0 tournament) scored three runs in the first, with considerable help from Chicago State starter Ravell Moss, who walked two and was charged with two balks.
Hawaii left no doubt as to the final outcome with a nine-run third inning. The 'Bows collected six hits and four of the five UH batters to reach first base via a walk scored. The damaging blow was a bases-clearing double into the left-field corner by Rocky Russo.
The nine runs equaled the Rainbows' season high for an inning, last accomplished against Hawaii-Hilo on Feb. 22.
The only negative last night was that Robbie Wilder reinjured his hamstring when he rounded third base on his way home from second on a passed ball in the third inning. He is questionable for tonight.
The Citadel and Chicago State play for third place at 2 p.m. today.
No. 20 Oregon State 3, The Citadel 2
The Beavers, stung by the Bulldogs' three-run ninth-inning rally when the teams played Tuesday, turned the tables on The Citadel yesterday.
Blanked on three hits for seven innings by Jonathan Ellis, the Beavers (10-3, 2-2) wiped out a 2-0 deficit with one swing of Chris Campos' bat.
Campos drove the second pitch from Bulldog closer Shannon Sprouse over the right-field wall with Jacob Ellsbury and Mike Lissman on base in the top of the eighth to avert a second upset by the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs (4-6, 2-2) took a 1-0 lead in the first when Jon Aughey led off with a double and later scored on Josh Stackley's single to center. Chris Cannon made it 2-0 in the sixth with a homer over the center-field fence.
Hawaii 14, Chicago State 0
E--Candiano, Hanzawa, Russo 2; LOB--CSU 3, Hawaii 7; 2B--Russo, Kahoali'i; 3B--Castillo; SF--Green; SB--Roberson, Wilder 2, Mendoza; CS--Walter, Kish.
CSU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Walter c 3 0 0 0 Wilder cf 1 3 1 0 Flores, c 0 0 0 0 Green cf 1 0 0 1 Reyes 3b 3 0 0 0 Finegan ss 3 1 1 0 Torres cf 3 0 1 0 Hanzawa ss 2 0 0 0 Jackson 1b 1 0 0 0 Kish rf 1 2 1 1 Lum, rf 2 0 0 0 Paszko 1b 2 0 0 0 Mendoza lf 2 3 1 1 Roberson lf 3 0 1 0 Russo 3b 3 1 1 3 Galloza 2b 3 0 0 0 Bell-Irving c 0 0 0 0 Bass dh 2 0 0 0 Sansaver 1b 3 1 3 3 Candiano rf 2 0 0 0 Magana ph/1b 1 0 0 0 Sakurai ss 2 0 0 0 Thurber dh 2 0 1 0 Griffin ph/dh 1 0 0 0 Kahoali'i c/3b 4 1 2 0 Omura ph/2b 2 1 1 1 Castillo ph/2b 1 1 1 0 Totals 24 0 2 0 Totals 29 14 13 10 Chicago State (0-7) 000 000 0 -- 0 2 1 Hawaii (13-7) 319 100 x -- 14 13 3
WP--Reynoso 2. HBP--by Reynoso (Kish); by Reynoso (Castillo). BK--Moss 2. PB--Walter 2. Umpires--Gary Montalbo Jr. (home), Don Greman (first), Keoki Torres(third). T--2:20. A--2,376.
CSU IP H R ER BB SO Moss (L, 0-2) 2.2 9 10 10 4 0 Reynoso 3.1 4 4 4 3 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Wright (W, 2-1) 5.0 1 0 0 0 1 Buck 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Mead 1.0 1 0 0 0 1
