Crimson Tide executes
win over ’Bows

The Hawaii Rainbows can only hope they improve in their execution of basic baseball plays or they will have to deal with more frustrating defeats.

Granted, this is the first week of the season, but the Rainbows' 3-2 loss to Alabama before 1,056 fans at Murakami Stadium yesterday could easily have been reversed.

Justin Costi pitched 6 1/3 strong innings in his first start for UH, but received no offensive support from his teammates.

"We preach over and over how important it is to execute. Now they have seen first-hand what happens when you don't," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.

"Our execution was an embarrassment. It's ridiculous how little we did. That's why we lost, not the play at the plate."

Down 3-0, the 'Bows rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Isaac Omura walked on a full count to start the inning and moved to second on Matt Inouye's line single to left.

Alabama coach Jim Wells brought Josh Copeland, a freshman right-hander with a lively fastball and deceptive offspeed pitch, in from the bullpen.

He fanned Rocky Russo, but gave up an RBI double off the right-field wall to Luis Avila on a full count. Copeland then threw a wild pitch on his first offering to pinch hitter Jose Castaneda, allowing Inouye to score and Avila to take third.

Castaneda walked on a 3-1 pitch. However, on Esteban Lopez's hanging liner to medium-deep left that was caught, Morrow Thomley's throw to catcher Kody Valverde was in time to get a sliding Avila. It appeared on replays that Avila slid in under the tag.

Hawaii only had two runners reach third base in the first six innings against Alabama right-hander T.J. Large.

Joe Spiers singled to right to start the bottom of the first, took second on a wild pitch and stole third with two outs, but Inouye grounded to short to end the inning.

In the sixth inning, Greg Kish reached on an error. After Omura, who was unable to successfully sacrifice, popped to short and Inouye struck out, Russo and Avila walked, loading the bases.

Wells brought hard-throwing right-hander Jordan Davis in from the bullpen and he induced Jonathan Hee to ground to second baseman Allen Rice for the final out.

Robbie Wilder drew a walk to start the ninth and was sacrificed to second by Spiers. However, on Kish's hard grounder to short, a ball Cale Iorg was content to throw to first, Wilder got caught in no-man's land. Iorg recognized this and tagged Wilder out.

Omura, the next batter, grounded a single to right that would have scored Wilder, but only moved Kish to third. Inouye flew out to the warning track in right, ending the game.

The Crimson Tide turned Iorg's fly ball that dropped in shallow center into the first run of the game in the third inning. Brandon Belcher ripped a line double into the right-field corner that scored Iorg.

Alabama took a 3-0 lead and knocked Costi out in the seventh. Michael McCallister walked with one out and stopped at third on Matt Bentley's ground-rule double that landed just fair down the left-field line and one-bounced over the wall.

Guy McDowell replaced Costi and gave up an RBI single to left by Iorg on the first pitch. Belcher walked, loading the bases. Rice followed with a two-strike single to left that scored Bentley.

"You can't ask for anything more from Costi. He went six innings, gave up one run and took the loss. You're kidding me," said Trapasso.

"We didn't do anything against Large for six innings and his pattern was basically the same. We did not make any adjustments at the plate."

Alabama 3, Hawaii 2

Alabama	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI
Belcher cf	4	0	2	1	Spiers ss	4	0	2	0
Rice 2b	4	0	3	1	Kish rf	5	0	0	0
Valverde c	5	0	1	0	Omura 2b	4	1	1	0
Bush 3b	5	0	1	0	Inouye cf	5	1	1	0
Thomley lf	3	0	1	0	Russo dh	3	0	0	0
Welch 1b	4	0	0	0	Avila 1b	3	0	1	1
McCallister rf	3	1	0	0	Hee 3b	3	0	0	0
Bentley dh	4	1	1	0	ÊCastaneda pr	0	0	0	0
Iorg ss	3	1	2	1	ÊMagana 3b	0	0	0	0
					Lopez c	4	0	1	0
					Wilder lf	1	0	0	0
Totals	35	3	11	3	Totals	32	2	6	1

Alabama	001	000	200	--	3	11	1
Hawaii	000	000	020	--	2	6	0

E--Iorg. DP--Alabama 1, Hawaii 1. LOB--Alabama 10, Hawaii 11. 2B--Belcher, Thomley, Bentley, Avila. SH--Rice, Spiers. SB--Iorg, Spiers, Wilder.

Alabama	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Large (W, 1-0)	5 2/3	2	0	0	3	6
Davis	1 1/3	2	2	2	1	0
Copeland	1/3	1	0	0	0	1
Robertson	2/3	0	0	0	2	0
Kabodeaux (SV, 1)	1	1	0	0	0	0
Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Costi (L, 0-1)	6 1/3	6	3	3	1	2
McDowell	1 2/3	3	0	0	1	2
Ellenbrook	1	2	0	0	0	1

WP--Large, Copeland, Costi, McDowell. HBP--by Costi (Thomley); by Costi (Iorg); by Large (Wilder). PB--Valverde.
Umpires--Mike Evans (home), Jim LeBeau (first), Cary Izuka (third).
T--3:01. A--2,134.