Rainbows’ hope rests with Daly

The right-hander will pitch in a must-win game

The Hawaii bats came alive yesterday for 20 hits, including homers by Landon Hernandez and Eli Christensen. But pitching remains a question mark for the Rainbows after yesterday's 19-7 seven-inning rout of Sacramento State at the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

HAWAII    Sacramento State 19 7 Hawaii vs. Nevada When: Today, noon TV: None Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM

RENO, Nev. » UH must play host and No. 2 seed Nevada again, the team that beat the Rainbows 11-1 in seven innings on Thursday.

Cameron Wheeler (1-0) got the win with 3 2/3 innings of relief, in which he gave up two runs. Mark Rodrigues started, and couldn't make it through four innings despite 16 runs of support.

"The bottom line is we're not the same staff we were the first half of the season," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We need to find a way to get back to that."

The good thing is the Rainbows have plenty of fresh arms to throw at Nevada in today's game scheduled for a noon Hawaii time start.

Trapasso said last night he will probably start Matt Daly (5-2, 3.12) against the Wolf Pack. Daly allowed a run in two innings of relief against Nevada in Thursday's 11-1 loss to the hosts. Nick Rhodes (0-2, 3.80) and Joshua Schneider (3-2, 3.58) are other possibilities.

If Hawaii wins, it plays again at 4 p.m. against the loser of the San Jose State-Fresno State winners' bracket game for a berth in tomorrow's finals. If it loses, the season is over.

Hawaii is 34-24 on the season. Sacramento State ended its year at 17-40.

---

Despite an impressive display with the sticks yesterday, Mike Trapasso knows his Hawaii team isn't going anywhere beyond the Western Athletic Conference tournament without improvement elsewhere -- namely, the mound.

UH sprayed 20 hits around and out of Peccole Park yesterday as the Rainbows pounded Sacramento State 19-7 in a survival game.

But the season ends today against Nevada without a solid outing from Matt Daly, Nick Rhodes or Josh Schneider (8 a.m. Hawaii start) today for Hawaii. After watching San Jose State beat Nevada 5-1 with right-hander Steven Vidal on the mound, Trapasso said he was leaning toward Daly.

"We have to pitch better than we have the first two days if we're going to have a chance to win anything," he said.

UH allowed 16 hits by the Hornets, including a 4-for-4 day for catcher Brett Tanigawa, a Moanalua High School product.

"Offensively anyway," Trapasso said, when asked about UH's vast improvement from the 11-1 loss to Nevada on Thursday to start the tournament. "We live to play another day. It wasn't pretty, but the main objective is to stay alive and play tomorrow. We were fortunate to have such a good offensive outing, as a team. So we didn't have to go into our bullpen for our better guys, or our guys who have pitched throughout the year. That at least keeps us fresh for any chance we might have of trying to win."

It's a long shot, as Hawaii would have to win two games today to get into tomorrow's finals, and then the Rainbows will still be one game away from being ousted while their opponent will need to win just once in two tries.

UH's pitching depth remains in pretty decent shape, despite the fact that yesterday's starter, Mark Rodrigues, lasted less than four innings.

"Nothing with the pitch count had to do with it," Trapasso said. "He gave up 11 hits (and five runs) in 3 1/3 innings. He wasn't sharp today. I wanted him to stay in five innings and get his 10th win as much as anybody."

But ending the game in seven innings was more important.

"They were hitting him hard, he wasn't locating," Trapasso continued. "He was flat, he really didn't have much today. Fortunately for us, we hit today."

Jon Hee, Eli Christensen, Kevin Macdonald and Vinnie Catricala each had three hits. Christensen's included a two-run homer, his second of the year. Landon Hernandez hit a two-run double and a three-run homer, his third.

"You can tell the difference hitting here and Hawaii, that's for sure," Hernandez said.

Macdonald and Christensen drove in four runs each. Christensen, who also scored four runs, raised his batting average to .335. He's maintained a hot bat despite sharing time at shortstop with Nate Young.

"You don't necessarily have to play to keep your swing on," Christensen said. "I've been working hard at keeping my swing up to par, I guess. When I get my shot I just try to contribute as much as I can."

Christensen and Macdonald had two-run singles and Hernandez hit his two-run double as UH sent 13 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored nine runs. Hawaii followed up with four in the third as the first five batters reached. Every Rainbow in the starting lineup had at least one hit.

Sacramento State starter Alvaro Orozco (5-6) was saddled with the loss after yielding nine runs and getting just four Rainbows out. Two of the runs were unearned due to Orozco's own error.

"We were trying to get ahead in the count, but we couldn't establish a first-pitch strike," Tanigawa said. "That makes it tough when you can't really hit the zone. They hit the crap out of the ball. You can't really do anything about that, especially when we make mistakes. They're a good team and they took advantage."