Pros strut their stuff after 9 years away

Waikiki leans on its pitching staff to open the season with a shutout win

Dexter Fowler and the Waikiki Beach Boys made sure to give fans their money's worth in Hawaii Winter Baseball's return to Les Murakami Stadium.

The Beach Boys made a strong debut in shutting out the Honolulu Sharks 4-0 in one of two games played yesterday after a nine-year hiatus for the league.

Even though few people knew the names of the players, gathered from the farm systems of Major League Baseball and Japan Professional Baseball -- children shouted "Number 24! Number 24, will you sign my ball?" at Fowler, a prospect of the Colorado Rockies, after the game -- there were plenty of reasons to believe they will before the 40-game season's end.

Fowler went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. The center fielder also made two impressive running catches before smacking into the center-field wall.

Beach Boys pitchers also earned high marks, striking out six batters while allowing just two hits. Left-hander Atsushi Nohmi, of the Hanshin Tigers in Japan, worked the first four innings before 6-foot-6 right-hander Henricus Vanden Hurk, of Holland, pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts for the win.

"It's always nice to win the first game," Beach Boys manager Lenn Sakata said. "(We're) targeting the performance of the player, not so much the wins and the losses. I was impressed with the way the kids came out, and the way they handled themselves. The pitching was extremely good."

Neither team could get on the board after four innings, but that changed in the fifth when Reed Eastley and Chris Nelson hit consecutive singles off newly-inserted Sharks pitcher Wardell Starling. Two batters later, Fowler hit an RBI single up the middle. Grant Psomas' ensuing grounder was mishandled by second baseman Eric Campbell, allowing two more to come in for a 3-0 lead.

"It's a play that we should make and we didn't, but they had seven hits and we had two," said Sharks manager Gary Kendall. "We swung the bats pretty good early in the ballgame, and then their bullpen was very effective. (But) I was very pleased, I thought (we) hustled, played hard, and each game we're looking for improvement."

Fowler hit a bloop single just beyond third base to score Sebastian Boucher from second base in the seventh inning for the final run.

"I'm just trying to go out here and get better, trying to adapt to all different situations," said Fowler, of Alpharetta, Ga.

He explained that he and his teammates were adapting to a multilingual clubhouse.

"It's a lot harder to communicate, but it's fun though. A lot of the signs are the same, like 'OK', 'yes' and 'no' and all that."

He had also never played on turf before, and the warning track at Les Murakami was an additional challenge. That didn't faze him, and his reaching grabs impressed not only the crowd of 1,595, but his new manager, as well.

"He ran some balls down and I haven't seen that at this level for a long, long time," Sakata said. "He's a gifted guy, a switch hitter, (and) can run, he's got good presence; he looks like a ballplayer."

Kamehameha graduate and Rockies prospect Duke Sardinha got an at-bat for the Beach Boys in the top of the ninth, and was pleased to give local fans somebody to root for.

"It sounded good, having them cheer for me," Sardinha said as he signed balls for youngsters. "I used to watch the old Winter League when I was younger, same age as these kids and (it's good), more baseball in Hawaii."