FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Joe Spiers was safe taking second base on a wild pitch in front of Washington's Jeff Miller.

Cougars cruise past UH
14-3 in series opener

Washington State won its fourth consecutive 2005 series opener with a 14-3 trouncing of Hawaii last night in a nonconference baseball game at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 953 watched left-hander James Freeman allow UH six hits and three runs in six innings to earn his third victory against no losses for the Cougars (6-5).

The WSU run and hit (21) totals were the most surrendered by the Rainbows this season.

A potentially worse negative occurred in the fifth when UH senior outfielder Greg Kish injured his right arm on a throw to the infield and left the game.

Trainer Brian Wong said Kish has a strained forearm and will be day-to-day.

"We'll get Greg an MRI as soon as possible," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.

The 'Bows (5-4) scored a run in the first after two-out walks to Matt Inouye and Luis Avila. Isaac Omura delivered the "Rainbow Hit" with a line single to center that scored Inouye.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso had lamented the lack of Rainbow Hits (a two-out run-scoring hit) in the first eight games of the season.

The Cougars (6-5) did not trail long, taking a 5-1 lead in the third when 11 batters came to the plate, enough to send UH starter Ricky Bauer to the showers after 36 pitches in the inning. Bauer struggled with his usually pinpoint command, giving up five singles, a double and a walk, and throwing two wild pitches.

It was the shortest outing by a UH starting pitcher this year.

"Ricky just got hit. Balls on the ground found holes and balls in the air were line drives, not fly balls like we've been hitting," said Trapasso. "The Cougars put on a clinic, just handed it to us. The way they play offense is what we're trying to do, put the ball in play, make something happen."

Matthew Thomas and Kaeo Rubin started the inning by singling to right on Bauer's first pitch. Jason Freeman's grounder to second scored Thomas and sent Rubin to second. Jay Miller bounced a single over third that moved Rubin to third. He scored and Miller took second on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch sent Miller to third and he came home on Brady Everett's groundout.

Zach Kosturos lined a 3-2 pitch to center for a single and took second when first baseman Avila dropped Zach McAngus' line drive and could not recover in time to make a play at first. Nick Hall followed with a ground ball just inside the third-base bag that went for a two-run double.

With the bases loaded, UH freshman left-hander Myles Ioane got Rubin to line out to left, ending the inning. However, the first three Cougars up in the fourth inning singled off the Waiakea graduate and eventually scored for an 8-1 WSU lead.

"Myles is one of our better guys. He had good stuff, but he was up (with his pitches)," said Trapasso.

Right-handed junior college transfer Dean Turner, making his first appearance for the Rainbows, fared no better in the fifth, giving up four runs on four hits.

UH freshman shortstop Joe Spiers singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to nine. Inouye and Avila both singled home runs in that inning.

"Dean has been through a lot and he just needs to get out there more. Thank God for (Larry) Ellenbrook, who came in and settled things down. Other wise they might have scored 20," said Trapasso.

Ellenbrook pitched 3 2/3 innings, gave up four hits and solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings.

Washington St. 14, Hawaii 3

WSU	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI
Rubin rf	4	2	3	0	Spiers ss	3	1	1	0
ÊKimbrel rf	1	1	1	0	ÊHanzawa ph/ss	1	0	0	0
Freeman, Jas. cf	3	2	2	2	Magana 3b	2	1	0	0
Miller, Ja. lf	5	3	3	0	ÊRoberts ph/3b	1	0	0	0
Everett c	5	2	2	4	Inouye cf/c	3	1	2	1
ÊFranklin c	1	0	1	1	Avila 1b	2	0	1	1
Kosturos dh	5	1	1	0	ÊNelson 1b	1	0	0	0
McAngus 3b	6	1	2	2	Omura 2b	3	0	1	1
Hall 1b	5	0	2	3	ÊCastillo 2b	0	0	0	0
ÊAlexander 1b	1	0	0	0	Kish lf	2	0	0	0
Miller, Je. 2b	6	0	2	0	ÊPiaskowski lf	2	0	0	0
Thomas ss	3	2	2	0	Russo dh	3	0	0	0
ÊSuttmeier ph/ss	2	0	0	0	ÊThurber ph	1	0	0	0
					Lopez c	2	0	0	0
					ÊAsato rf	2	0	0	0
					Castaneda rf/cf	3	0	1	0
					ÊBallard ph	1	0	0	0
Totals	47	14	21	12	Totals	32	3	6	3

WSU	005	341	010	--	14	21	0
Hawaii	100	020	000	--	3	6	1

E--Avila. LOB--WSU 13, Hawaii 7. 2B--Everett, McAngus, Hall. SH--Freeman, Jas., Kosturos. SB--Rubin, Spiers, Hanzawa. CS--Inouye.

WSU	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Freeman, Jam. (W, 3-0)	6	6	3	3	3	2
Kost	2	0	0	0	2	3
Dingwall	1	0	0	0	0	1
Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Bauer (L, 1-1)	2 2/3	7	5	3	2	1
Ioane	1	5	3	3	0	0
Turner	2/3	4	4	4	1	1
Ellenbrook	3 2/3	4	2	2	1	1
Thomas	1	1	0	0	0	2

WP--Freeman, Jam. 2, Bauer 2, Turner. HBP--by Ellenbrook (Rubin).
Umpires--Don Greman (home), Jim LeBeau (first), Gary Montalbo (third).
T--3:18. A--953.