Arkansas cools off UH bats

The Razorbacks use pitching and defense to deny the Rainbows

Last night's Hawaii-Arkansas game was between the two ranked teams in the First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium. The pitching matchup had the staff aces, Arkansas left-hander Nick Schmidt and UH right-hander Steven Wright, going against each other.

ARKANSAS     HAWAII 5 1 NEXT UP Vs. Washington tonight

The Razorbacks (11-1, 2-1), No. 11 in the Baseball America poll, were the clear winners. They made the most of their opportunities and steadily built a lead, then protected it with pitching and defense to get a 5-1 win before a crowd of 1,110.

Schmidt was not as sharp as he was in his first three starts. He walked five, equaling the number of free passes he had given up in 19 innings entering the game, and hit a batter. But, the 6-foot-5 sophomore was very effective otherwise. In seven innings, Schmidt limited the Rainbows to two harmless singles and struck out six.

"He had tremendous control with very good stuff. He hides the ball well. You won't see a pitcher better than that," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We were ready to play. He just beat us."

In today's semifinal action, Hawaii (12-5, 1-2), No. 24 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, plays Washington at 6:35 p.m., following a 2:30 game between Texas-Arlington and Arkansas.

Wright went deeper into the count on more batters than usual, throwing four or more pitches to 16 of the 28 he faced. He gave up eight hits, walked two and fanned eight in taking his first loss of the season.

"Steven was not good. He was up, and you combine that with a very good Arkansas club. You tip your hat to them," Trapasso said.

The Rainbows also were held to two hits in the second UC Irvine game.

The Hogs put a run on the board in the third after Wright had retired the first two batters.

Chris Hollensworth lined a single to center and scored when James Ewing ripped a 3-2 pitch to the alley in left-center for a double.

Wright created his own trouble in the fourth when he walked Brian Walker on a 3-2 pitch with one down. David Hum then hit a one-bouncer back to the mound, but Wright's high throw to second went into center field. Walker continued to third and scored on Blake Parker's lazy liner into right.

The Razorbacks took a 4-0 lead in the fifth.

Hollensworth doubled to left-center field to start the inning. Wright walked Ewing on a 3-2 pitch.

Danny Hamblin singled to left, scoring Hollensworth. On a double-steal attempt, Hamblin was thrown out at second, but Ewing scored on the fielder's choice.

Hawaii scored a run in the bottom of the inning without getting a hit.

Joe Spiers drew a two-out walk and took second when Robbie Wilder was hit by a pitch. Spiers then caught the Hogs by surprise and stole third between pitches and scored on a wild pitch.

Both teams were warned by the umpires after Wilder was hit.

"It was a tense game. There was a lot of trash-talking out there," Trapasso said.

Steve Robison started the Arkansas seventh with a double down the left-field line. He moved to third when Hollensworth drove a ball to deep center that was caught.

That also ended the night for Wright.

"I thought I was down (with pitches) most of the time. I did leave a couple up and they hit them," said Wright.

He was replaced by Matt Daly, who wild-pitched Robison home, then retired the next two batters.

After the 'Bows scored their run, they managed to get a runner to second base just once in the last four innings.

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