Rainbows slam Tigers

Young, Hernandez and Sanchez power Hawaii to a 13-1 rout of Pacifc

Hawaii baseball coach Mike Trapasso has been waiting for the top and bottom of the Rainbow lineup to be more consistent contributors offensively.

Hawaii    Pacific 13 1 Next Up vs. Pacific today

Nate Young and Landon Hernandez filled that role last night when the Rainbows beat Pacific 13-1 in the opener of a three-game nonconference series at Les Murakami Stadium.

Young, a sophomore batting .125 entering the game and playing in place of injured Jon Hee at second base, was 3-for-4 with a double and four runs batted in.

"I was seeing the ball real big tonight," Young said. "I made an adjustment during the week. I pushed my hands up a bit (while batting) to get my lead hand through earlier."

Hernandez started the third and fourth innings with hits that led to UH taking an early 8-1 lead.

All this complemented the six runs batted in by Kris Sanchez and made life easy for senior left-hander Ian Harrington, who pitched four-hit ball for seven innings.

Harrington atoned for his quick exit last week by striking out a career-high nine batters and walking one to earn his second victory of the season.

"This whole week was spent working on my mechanics. My leg kick was too violent last week and we wanted to bring that more under control," said Harrington, who has always had a quick leg kick to the plate.

The Rainbows (5-2) opened the scoring with a six-run third inning that began with Hernandez's line single to right.

With one out, Jorge Franco smacked David Rowse's first pitch to the gap in right center for a run-scoring triple. Young followed with a one-strike line single to right, scoring Franco.

Rowse then walked Justin Frash on a full count and Brandon Haislet on four pitches to load the bases.

Sanchez, the WAC Hitter of the Week the last two weeks, then cleared the bases with his first homer of the season. He drilled a line drive on a one-ball pitch that cleared the right-field fence about 10 feet inside the foul pole.

"Before I went to the plate, coach Meij (Keith Komeiji) told me to look for something up," Sanchez said. "The first pitch was a breaking ball down. I'm not sure if the next pitch was a strike, but it was around the letters and I got on top of it."

The Tigers (2-3) got one run back in the top of the fourth when they loaded the bases on singles to center by Joe Oliveira, Justin Baum and Mike Walker. Greg Murray's sacrifice fly to right scored Oliveira.

Franco's nice running catch of Jason Haar's opposite field drive at the foul pole in left after the first two Pacific singles prevented a potentially bigger inning.

Hernandez started another run-producing inning in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double to right-center field. He moved to third when Vinnie Catricala flew out deep to right.

Franco then walked on a full count and stole second. Young lined a 2-2 pitch off the mound into center field to score both runners and up UH's lead to 8-1.

The Rainbows tacked on another three runs in the sixth. With one out, UOP reliever Brett Manning walked Franco and Young.

Franco scored and Young moved to third when Frash doubled over the head of Oliveira in right. After Haislet fanned on a 3-2 pitch, Sanchez picked up his fifth and sixth RBIs of the game with a bloop single to left-center field.

"Today, it was just our night. We got production up and down the lineup," said Trapasso.

"Nate had a great night and (leadoff batter) Franco got things going with a triple, three walks and a couple of stolen bases."

The 13 runs are a season high for UH and the 14 hits equals the number the 'Bows collected in their season opener.

The series continues today at 1 p.m. and concludes tomorrow at 1 p.m.