Teammates congratulated Rainbow second baseman Isaac Omura after he hit his team-leading sixth home run of the season last night in the fifth inning.
’Bows scratch
Sea Warriors
UH shows versatility -- scoring
with small ball and a homer
The Hawaii Rainbows had to scratch for two of their three runs in a 3-1 victory over Hawaii Pacific in a nonconference game witnessed by 791 fans at Les Murakami Stadium last night.
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Starter Ricky Bauer got the win, Rich Olsen held the fort and Justin Costi, who will start Sunday, earned the save.
"This was Justin's bullpen day. He came to us and said he felt fine and wanted to pitch an inning. He is very effective at night because of his changeup," said UH coach Mike Trapasso.
The 'Bows, who only managed five hits, opened the scoring in the third inning when Joe Spiers drove Sea Warrior starter Josh Guerra's first pitch to the left-center alley for a double. When HPU center fielder Greg Benoit bobbled the ball, Spiers continued to third then scored on a wild pitch.
Ricky Bauer pitched the first four innings, allowing two hits. He did not walk a batter, struck out two and retired the last eight Sea Warriors he faced.
Rich Olsen replaced Bauer and went three innings, also allowing just two hits.
Isaac Omura upped the UH lead to 2-0 in the fifth with his sixth home run of the season. He belted a 1-2 pitch over both walls.
Hawaii Pacific's Alika Kuraoka was safe at second when Hawaii second baseman Isaac Omura couldn't handle the throw from left fielder Nate Thurber in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kataoka would go on to score HPU's only run of the game.
Alika Kuraoka doubled to left with one out. Bryan Daguio was safe at first when Adam Roberts had Spiers' throw from short bounce off his glove. Kuraoka moved to third on the play and came home on Spencer Omalza's sacrifice fly to right.
The 'Bows got the run back in the bottom of the inning, but missed a golden chance to take a more comfortable lead.
Spiers walked to start the inning, took second on Derek Dupree's sacrifice bunt and third on Omura's soft liner that just made it into short center.
On Nate Thurber's slow bouncer up the third base line, Spiers was caught in a rundown and tagged out. Matt Inouye walked on a full count to load the bases.
Pierce Manglallan replaced Guerra on the mound for HPU and walked Schafer Magana on four pitches to force Omura home.
Cruz Hatanaka relieved Manglallan and fanned Rocky Russo to prevent further damage.
"You can't be happy with just five hits, but I was impressed with Guerra. He threw three pitches for strikes. I don't care who you are, if you throw three pitches for strikes you are going to be competitive. I was impressed," said Trapasso.
"Our pitching and defense were good. Dupree made two excellent plays in center. They have been playing well and then Allan (head coach Sato) announces his resignation yesterday. HPU came out fired up. It was our typical midweek game."
Hawaii's Rocky Russo connected for a ground ball in the fourth inning. He reached on an error.
This is the first season the Owls (24-12, 6-6 WAC) have not dominated the conference since they joined the league in 1996.
Rice is in fourth place, two games behind WAC leader San Jose State and two games ahead of the 'Bows (4-8 league) who are tied for fifth with Louisiana Tech.
"Talent-wise, they are just the same. They may not be the same record-wise or have the same pitching, but they have guys who bring it in the low 90s," said Trapasso.
"Lineup-wise, they're better offensively. They brought in some new guys who are doing well and the returnees are better. They are used to playing big games and big-time competition. They have one of the best coaches (Wayne Graham who won his 600th game recently) in the history of college baseball. We don't feel sorry for them, they are doing just fine."
One of those Rice newcomers is left-hander Joe Savery, who is third in the WAC with a 1.86 earned-run average and fourth in batting with a .405 average.
Hawaii 3, Hawaii Pacific 1
Hawaii Pacific AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Sato rf 4 0 0 0 Spiers ss 4 1 1 0 Costa ss 4 0 0 0 Dupree cf 2 0 0 0 Benoit cf 4 0 1 0 Omura 2b 4 2 3 1 Baptista c 2 0 0 0 Thurber lf 2 0 0 0 Jefferson c 1 0 0 0 Wilder pr/lf 0 0 0 0 Kealoha pr 0 0 0 0 Inouye rf 3 0 0 0 Kuraoka 1b 4 1 2 0 Magana 3b 3 0 0 1 Daguio 2b 3 0 1 0 Russo dh 4 0 0 0 Omalza dh 1 0 0 1 Roberts 1b 3 0 1 0 Lee 3b 3 0 0 0 Lopez c 4 0 0 0 Nakamura lf 3 0 0 0 Totals 29 1 4 1 Totals 29 3 5 2 Hawaii Pacific 000 000 100 -- 1 4 4 Hawaii 001 010 10x -- 3 5 1 E--Benoit; Baptista; Daguio; Lee; Roberts. DP--Hawaii Pacific 1. LOB--Hawaii Pacific 5; Hawaii 10. 2B--Kuraoka; Spiers. HR--Omura. SH--Daguio; Omalza; Dupree. SF--Omalza. CS--Omura.
Hawaii Pacific IP H R ER BB SO Guerra (L, 3-2) 6 2/3 5 3 3 5 5 Manglallan 0 0 0 0 1 0 Hatanaka 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Bauer (W, 3-2) 4 2 0 0 0 4 Olsen 3 2 1 0 0 1 Costi (S, 1) 2 0 0 0 1 3 WP--Guerra. HBP--by Guerra (Thurber).
Umpires--Cary Izuka (plate), Don Greman (first), Jim LeBeau (third).
T--2:38. A--791.
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