RAINBOW WARRIOR BASEBALL
'Bows get solid pitching to upend the Vulcans
Hawaii improves to 19-8 by beating in-state rival Hawaii-Hilo in the first of a two-game series
From staff and wire services
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HILO » Three Hawaii pitchers held Hawaii-Hilo to five hits and enough of the Rainbows' 11 hits were timely to produce a 5-2 victory last night over the Vulcans at Francis Wong Stadium.
The Rainbows (19-8) broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the third and rode the pitching of Justin Costi, Rich Olsen and Matt Daly to their 102nd win in the series in the first of two nonconference games against UHH.
Costi picked up his third consecutive win with 5 2/3 innings of four-hit ball.
When the Vulcans scored a run in the sixth to cut the UH lead to 3-2, Olsen came in to fan Matt Haasenritter for the final out.
The scenario was repeated in the seventh when UHH had runners at first and second. Daly relieved Olsen and struck out Jimmy Crider to end the inning. Daly, a freshman right-hander, struck out four of the last five batters he faced.
"Costi really pitched well. In that inning (sixth) he might not have had the stuff he had earlier, but he was still pitching well," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.
"It was more that I had faith in Rich's curve ball to get us out of the inning. Then in the next inning, he struggled with his fastball command and we had to do the same thing although I didn't want to. Daly came in and it was lights out tonight."
Daly had trouble finding the plate to start the eighth, walking Michael Higa on four pitches and throwing two balls to Mark Veneri. That prompted
a visit from Trapasso.
"Basically, Matt is going to catch on that I'm going out and saying the same thing. He is very talented, but a freshman and sometimes he just needs to be shook up," Trapasso said.
Jorge Franco drew a walk to start the second inning and the Rainbows turned it in to the first run of the game.
He stole second, took third on Adam Roberts' grounder to second and scored when Eli Christensen singled to right on a two-strike pitch.
The Vulcans (9-17) tied the score at 1-1 in the third inning.
Alvis Satele started the inning with a double to deep center. He moved to third on Dayne Ogawa's sacrifice bunt and scored on Crider's ground ball to second.
The 'Bows regained the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Leadoff hitter Esteban Lopez singled to left, advanced to second on a wild pitch by UHH starter Ryan Hanohano and scored when Roberts doubled to right. After taking third on a wild pitch, Roberts came home on Joe Spiers' sacrifice fly.
The third and fourth hits off Costi, singles by Higa and Veneri, resulted in a Vulcan run in the sixth, cutting the Rainbow lead to 3-2.
Higa moved to second on a wild pitch and stopped at third on Veneri's single to right. On Tyler Curtis' blooper over the mound, Higa scored as Christensen, charging in from shortstop, made the play at first.
The 'Bows got their two-run margin (4-2) back in the seventh when Justin Frash singled to left and scored on a double to the alley in right-center field by Luis Avila.
Hawaii added a fifth run in the eighth. Roberts doubled to right for the second time. Pinch runner Matt Roquemore took third on Christensen's sacrifice bunt and scored on Robbie Wilder's single up the middle.
The 12 Rainbows left on base did not please Trapasso.
"We've seen a pattern lately that we hadn't seen from this group and that's playing in cruise control. Five runs on 11 hits is something we've seen too much of the last couple weeks," Trapasso said.
"We didn't go off on them, just told them that tomorrow is the halfway point of the season and if they keep playing this way they will be a .500 team in the second half and will be saying what could have been at the end."
The series concludes today with a 2 p.m. game. Mark Rodrigues starts for UH.
Hawaii 5, Hawaii-Hilo 2
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii-Hilo |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Wilder cf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Crider ss |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Spiers 2b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Higa 2b |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Frash 3b |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Veneri dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Avila 1b |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
Curtis 3b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Inouye rf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Haasenritter c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Lopez c |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Mowers rf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Franco lf |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Gutierrez lf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Roberts dh |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
Satele 1b |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Roquemore pr |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Ogawa cf |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Sanchez ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Campbell ph |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Christensen ss |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Totals |
34 |
5 |
11 |
5 |
Totals |
30 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
Hawaii |
|
|
010 |
200 |
110 |
-- |
5 |
11 |
0 |
Hawaii-Hilo |
|
|
001 |
001 |
000 |
-- |
2 |
5 |
1 |
E--Curtis. DP--Hawaii 1; Hawaii-Hilo 2. LOB--Hawaii 12; Hawaii-Hilo 5. 2B--Avila 2; Roberts 2; Lopez; Satele. S--Christensen; Ogawa. SF--Spiers. SB--Franco; Lopez. CS--Higa; Christensen.
Hawaii |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Costi (W, 3-0) |
5 2/3 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Olsen |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
Daly (S, 1) |
2 1/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
Hawaii-Hilo |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Hanohano (L, 0-7) |
3 1/3 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
Usui |
3 1/3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Biggs |
2 1/3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
WP--Hanohano 2; Costi 1. HBP--by Hanohano (Wilder); by Usui (Inouye).
Umpires--Bill Allen (plate), Bob Simons (first), Ben Doss (third).
T--3:00. A--837.