UH catcher Esteban Lopez lunged to tag Washington State's Jason Freeman after dropping Freeman's third strike.
Rainbows
bounce back
The focal point of baseball practice earlier this week for the Hawaii batters was hitting down on the ball in hopes of eliminating fly-ball outs. It took two games for the practice to pay dividends.
Timely hitting and the pitching of Stephen Bryant and Steven Wright led the Rainbows to a 6-1 victory over Washington State before 1,448 fans last night in a nonconference game at Les Murakami Stadium.
"We had 12 fly-ball outs Thursday night and five tonight," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Give them (the Cougars) credit, then flush it. Our guys came out tonight wanting to perform better. We were all embarrassed the first night.
The win evens the four-game series at 1-1. Right-hander Colby Summer is the UH starter tonight on the mound.
The Cougars (6-6) scored a run in the first inning but that was it for the night.
Kaeo Rubin reached first base on a throwing error by UH shortstop Troy Hanzawa to start the game. Rubin took second on Jason Freeman's grounder and came home on Jay Miller's single to center.
UH (6-4) came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Joe Spiers singled to center, extending his hitting streak to 10. He moved to second on Hanzawa's sacrifice bunt and scored on Matt Inouye's single to left. Inouye was tagged out trying to take second on the throw home.
Luis Avila followed with a drive that short-hopped the center-field fence for a double. He scored when Isaac Omura hustled into second with a double after his bouncer up the middle tipped off the glove of diving WSU shortstop Matthew Thomas and rolled toward right-center.
Omura's second double, a line drive up the right-center-field alley, leading off the fourth led to the 'Bows' third run. Ryan Asato's first UH hit, a high hopper into short center, advanced Omura to third before he scored on Robbie Wilder's drag-bunt single.
Isaac Omura slid safely into second with a double ahead of the throw to Washington State second baseman Jeff Miller.
"He told us he was getting a little tired in the fifth inning," UH pitching coach Chad Konishi said. "We were a little more aggressive with (Bryant) tonight over his last start against Pacific. He threw his fastball more, but his out pitch was the breaking pitch."
"My fastball was up in two of the innings, but it was in and out, so the location was good," Bryant said. "My curve was all right and my changeup was great. If you can throw the off-speed pitch for strikes you are going to win."
Wright, a sophomore right-hander, took over in the seventh and pitched three perfect innings with three strikeouts. He threw 36 pitches and threw six of his nine first pitches for strikes.
"I just go out there and try to do my job. It was mostly fastball and changeup tonight," said Wright, who wastes no time on the mound.
The Rainbows provided Wright with welcomed insurance in the eighth with three more runs off reliever Dane Renkert, who had retired seven consecutive 'Bows.
Consecutive singles to right field by Avila, Omura and Schafer Magana loaded the bases. Jose Castaneda, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in right field in the top of the inning, took one strike from Renkert, then lined a bases-clearing triple to right-center field.
"I wasn't trying to do too much, just drive the ball through the infield so we could get a run in," said Castaneda. "The pitch was a fastball, middle away."
Castaneda's hit came with one out following a mound visit by the WSU pitching coach.
"It is nice to follow our worst performance of the year with our best," Trapasso said. "Now we need to go out and show the same effort tomorrow and Sunday."
Hawaii 6, Washington St. 1
WSU AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Rubin rf 2 1 0 0 Spiers dh 4 1 1 0 Freeman, Jas. cf 4 0 0 0 Hanzawa ss 3 0 1 0 Miller, Ja. lf 4 0 3 1 Inouye cf 4 0 1 1 Everett c 4 0 1 0 Avila 1b 4 2 2 0 Kosturos dh 3 0 1 0 Omura 2b 4 2 3 1 McAngus 3b 4 0 0 0 Magana 3b 4 1 1 0 Hall 1b 4 0 0 0 Asato rf 3 0 1 0 Miller, Je. 2b 4 0 0 0 ÊCastaneda rf 1 0 1 3 Thomas ss 3 0 1 0 Lopez c 4 0 0 0 Wilder lf 4 0 1 1 Totals 32 1 6 1 Totals 35 6 12 6 WSU 100 000 000 -- 1 6 1 Hawaii 200 100 03x -- 6 12 1 E--McAngus, Hanzawa. LOB--WSU 7, Hawaii 6. 2B--Miller, Ja. 2, Thomas, Avila, Omura 2. 3B--Castaneda. SH--Hanzawa. SB--Inouye. CS--Rubin.
WSU IP H R ER BB SO Miller, Jsn. (L, 0-2) 5 8 3 3 0 2 Renkert 3 4 3 3 0 5 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bryant (W, 2-0) 6 6 1 0 3 7 Wright (S, 1) 3 0 0 0 0 3 WP--Miller, Jsn., Bryant. BK--Bryant.
Umpires--Jim LeBeau (home), Gary Montalbo (first), Don Greman (third).
T--2:30. A--1,448.
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