Hawaii's Steven Wright gave up one hit in 1 2/3 innings yesterday at Les Murakami Stadium.
6 teams compete
this week in Rainbow
baseball tourney
Wichita State and Louisiana-Lafayette
enter the event undefeated
The First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament starts a five-day run tomorrow at Les Murakami Stadium.
The field includes the Wichita State Shockers, the UC Davis Aggies, the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, the South Florida Bulls, the Sacramento State Hornets and host Hawaii.
The tournament format is round robin. The team with the best record will be champion.
The Shockers, who defeated Hawaii-Hilo 6-1 yesterday to sweep a five-game series, and the Ragin' Cajuns, who won their own Mardi Gras Ball Tournament with wins over Marist, Miami (Ohio) and Texas State this past weekend, are undefeated with 11-0 and 10-0 records, respectively.
One of those teams will lose the unbeaten designation after they meet in tomorrow's second game at 2:30 p.m.
"Wichita State is the best team in the country when (Mike) Pelfrey pitches," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso, who had Pelfrey on his USA Baseball pitching staff last summer.
The 6-foot-7 junior right-hander is 23-4 at WSU and 2-0 with an 0.90 earned-run average this year.
The Shockers have a .325 team batting average and the pitchers have a combined 2.16 ERA.
The Hornets, who join the Western Athletic Conference for baseball next year, are 5-6-1 after winning three and tying the final game (halted by darkness) against North Dakota State over the weekend. They open against the Rainbows (7-5) tomorrow night.
The Aggies (6-6) of the Big West Conference won two of three games from Portland before heading to Hawaii. Daniel Descalso leads the hitters with a .388 average and 14 RBIs. Senior right-hander Dave McKae (3-1) has half of the Aggies' wins and a 1.66 ERA.
The Bulls (8-5), who play UC Davis tomorrow, are coming off a good weekend, taking three games from Jacksonville. Jeff Baisley, with a .404 batting average and 19 RBIs, is the top hitter. Freshman right-hander Daniel Thomas brings a 3-1 record to town.
The Rainbows (7-5) are still looking for their identity.
"We have a tournament to play this week. We need to find out which team is going to show up, the Saturday team or the Sunday team," Trapasso said. "We have to play better."
Hawaii has won the last two tournaments.
First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament
When: Tomorrow through Saturday.Where: Les Murakami Stadium.
TV: Tomorrow's UH game only, live, KFVE, Channel 5
Radio: Tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday, UH games live, KKEA, 1420-AM
Tickets: $6 orange and blue sections; $5 red section; $4 seniors, and $3 students age 4-18, UH students in the red section.
Parking: $3
Schedule
Tomorrow: UC Davis vs. South Florida, 10:30 a.m.; Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Wichita State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Sacramento State, 6:35 p.m.Wednesday: South Florida vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 10:30 a.m.; Wichita State vs. Sacramento State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. UC Davis, 6:35 p.m.
Thursday: Sacramento State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 10:30 a.m.; Wichita State vs. UC Davis, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. South Florida, 6:35 p.m.
Friday: Sacramento State vs. South Florida, 10:30 a.m.; Louisiana-Lafayette vs. UC Davis, 2:35 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Wichita State, 6:35 p.m.
Saturday: UC Davis vs. Sacramento State, 10:30 a.m.; South Florida vs. Wichita State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 6:35 p.m.
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