Errors cost UH
in loss to WSU

As well as Hawaii hit the ball, it wasn't enough to offset a pair of unearned runs, as Wichita State edged the Rainbows 3-2 last night before 1,669 fans watching the First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tourney at Les Murakami Stadium.

Rainbow pitchers Colby Summer and Steven Wright should have benefited from the 11 hits Hawaii collected, but with no leadoff batter reaching base safely in any inning, it made it difficult to knock off the 15th-ranked Shockers.

"This was a baseball game. I told our guys we had an aggressive offensive approach for the second night in a row and if we keep doing that, we will be OK," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso.

In yesterday's second game, the Ragin' Cajuns from Louisiana-Lafayette wrapped up the tournament title with a 6-2 victory over UC Davis, the fourth win in as many tries this week for the No. 22 team.

"We pride ourselves in pitching first, defense second and timely hitting third. Our pitchers want to give the team the opportunity to win," said Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux, whose team has won 14 consecutive games to start the season.

"We came here with the goal of winning a championship. When people ask us what our record is we tell them we don't know. We don't focus on the streak, but on those things that got us there."

Hawaii (8-8, 1-3) plays Louisiana-Lafayette tonight, but will need to do a better job of getting timely hits if the Rainbows want to pull off the upset. In last night's game with Wichita State, both teams had opportunities to score in the opening inning, but came up empty.

The Shockers (14-1, 3-1) loaded the bases with two down on Derek Schermerhorn's single on either side of walks from Summer. After UH coach Mike Trapasso's mound visit, Summer retired the side on one pitch, a fielder's choice grounder by Blake Hurlbutt.

Schafer Magana walked with one out and took third on Isaac Omura's double high off the right-field wall in the bottom half of the inning. WSU starter Travis Banwart held UH scoreless by retiring Luis Avila on a foul pop to first and striking out Matt Inouye.

An error by right fielder Jose Castaneda, who dropped Joe Muich's line drive to start the second, cost UH a run. Muich moved to third on Brandon Hall's single to left and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Kenny Waddell.

Summer, after his longest outing in two and a half years, said, "I had a lot of stupid walks early, but I thought I did well."

The Shockers struck with two outs in the third on a triple to right-center field by Damon Sublett and Hurlbutt's infield single to deep short.

Held to two hits through four innings by Banwart, the 'Bows got three off reliever Brandon Ast in the fifth and tied the score at 2-2.

WSU edged ahead 3-2 in the eighth on another unearned run.

No. 22 Louisiana-Lafayette 6, UC Davis 2

The Ragin' Cajuns (14-0, 4-0) broke open a close game with four runs, two coming home on wild pitches, in the fifth inning.

Buddy Glass, a freshman right-hander, pitched the first eight innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run.

The Aggies (8-8, 1-3) attempted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning by loading the bases with no outs, but Cajuns second baseman Justin Merendino made a leaping stab of Kevin James' line drive and turned it into a double play to blunt the rally.

The Cajuns pitching staff has only allowed eight runs, six earned, in four tourney games for a 0.78 earned run average.

"We have C.J. Blue, another freshman, going tomorrow (vs. Hawaii) and a rested bullpen, so we should be in good shape," said Robichaux.

Sacramento State 7, South Florida 4

The Hornets (7-8-1, 2-2) took a 2-0 lead, fell behind 4-2, then regained the lead for good with a three-run rally in the seventh inning.

Moanalua graduate Jim Strombach started the comeback with a single to right. He stole second and continued to third on a throwing error by catcher Brad Karns.

Aiea graduate Taylor Watanabe singled Strombach home. Josh Levin was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced on a balk and scored for a 6-4 Hornets lead on Brett Flowers' single to right.

Warren Rosebrock, who came out of the bullpen in the second inning, held the Bulls (9-8, 1-3) in check with three hits over the final eight innings.

Wichita St. 3, Hawaii 2

WSU	AB	R	H	BI	Hawaii	AB	R	H	BI
Napolitan lf	3	0	0	0	Spiers ss	5	1	1	0
McCoola ss	4	0	1	0	Magana 3b	4	0	0	0
Hill dh	3	1	1	0	Omura 2b	5	0	3	1
Schermerhorn 1b	4	0	1	0	Avila 1b	5	0	2	0
Sublett 2b	3	1	2	0	ÊDupree pr	0	0	0	0
Hurlbutt rf/cf	4	0	1	1	Inouye cf	4	0	0	0
Muich c	4	1	0	0	Russo dh	4	0	0	0
Hall 3b	4	0	1	0	Castaneda rf	4	0	1	0
Waddell cf	1	0	0	1	Piaskowski lf	4	0	2	0
ÊBrown rf	1	0	0	0	ÊWilder pr/lf	0	0	0	0
					Ammon c	3	1	2	0
Totals	31	3	7	2	Totals	38	2	11	1

WSU	011	000	010		--	3	7	1
Hawaii	000	020	000		--	2	11	3

E--Hall; Avila; Castaneda; Piaskowski. DP--WSU 1, Hawaii 1. LOB--WSU 7, Hawaii 12. 2B--Spiers; Omura 2. 3B--Sublett. SF--Waddell. SB--Hill; Waddell. CS--Napolitan; Hurlbutt; Inouye.

WSU	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Banwart	4	2	0	0	2	6
Ast	2/3	3	2	2	1	1
Simon (W, 1-0)	3	5	0	0	0	0
Booth (S, 3)	1 1/3	1	0	0	0	2
Hawaii	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Summer	6 1/3	5	2	1	4	4
Wright (L, 1-2)	2 2/3	2	1	0	1	4

WP--Ast.
T--3:00. A--1,669.