Rainbows win opener of Arizona tournament

Brandon Haislet and Vinnie Catricala each had three hits, and Jeff Van Doornum provided the crushing blow with a two-run homer in the seventh as Hawaii opened the Coca-Cola Classic with a 7-3 win over Northern Illinois yesterday in Surprise, Ariz.

Matt Daly picked up his second win of the season and Jayson Kramer earned his second save.

The Rainbows jumped to a 4-0 lead, but the Huskies used a three-run seventh inning to chase Daly and trim the deficit to one.

The Rainbows answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning as Catricala tripled home Haislet before Van Doornum blasted a two-run bomb to center.

Hawaii improved to 5-3 for the year and faces No.1-ranked Arizona State today.

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SURPRISE, Ariz. » Vinnie Catricala's early-season slump has quickly become a distant memory.

The sophomore third baseman went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs and Jeff Van Doornum added a two-run bomb to center as Hawaii took advantage of a worn-down Northern Illinois squad to pull away for a 7-3 victory in its opening game in the Coca-Cola Classic at Billy Parker Field.

The game was delayed a little more than 2 hours as the Huskies (0-2) went 16 innings against Portland in the tournament opener before losing 9-6. They had about 45 minutes to rest before playing the Rainbows (5-3).

"It was kind of nice to relax before the game, but I could see how it could kind of ruin your day sitting around and doing nothing," Catricala said.

Catricala was just 3-for-20 to start the season, but is 6-for-6 with a walk in his last seven plate appearances.

"I was kind of slumping hard a little bit," he said. "I just went back to what I was doing last year in getting down on the ball and just trying to keep it simple."

Matt Daly picked up his second win of the season, but continued to struggle with his command. He didn't allow a run in the first three innings despite walking five batters. He ran into trouble in the sixth, however, as Jeff Thomas singled in two runs with two outs and Jordin Hood followed with an RBI triple that cut Hawaii's lead to 4-3.

Jayson Kramer replaced Daly, and after walking Danny Reed, got Justin Behm to ground out to end the inning.

"We just made things a little too interesting in the seventh," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "Daly ran out of gas because he walked five guys in the first three innings."

The Rainbows tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the inning as Catricala tripled to center to score Brandon Haislet, who led off with a bunt single. Van Doornum then came to bat and blasted a monster home run over the 400-foot sign in center that was "at least 450 feet," according to Catricala.

"(Van Doornum) has some thunder in his hands," Trapasso said. "He's got that capability. We're going to be OK offensively."

Van Doornum finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Jon Hee added two runs scored. Hawaii's 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 8-for-10, as Haislet improved his batting average to .520.

Daly (2-0) wound up giving up three runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out six and walking six. Kramer finished off the Huskies to pick up the save, allowing two hits and one walk in 2 1/3 innings.

Jared Alexander (2-0) will get the start today as the Rainbows face an Arizona State team ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 poll. The Wildcats (4-0) defeated Michigan, ranked 18th in the same poll, 15-4 yesterday and have won their first four games by a combined 51-10 score.

"We really have nothing to lose. It's all on them," Catricala said. "We'll just do what we always try to do and that's go out there and try to get one run every inning."

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Hawaii 7, Northern Illinois 3

DP--NIU 1, Hawaii 1. LOB--NIU 10, Hawaii 8. 2B--Van Doornum. 3B--Hood, Catricala. HR--Van Doornum. HBP--Hee. SH--Reynolds SF--Van Doornum, Roquemore. CS--Thomas, Hernandez.

HBP--by Anderson, (Hee); by Capaul (Braunecker); by Capaul (Kim); by Anderson (Hernandez); by Schneider (Bialosky); by Kuroda (Railey); by Burns (Montplaisir).

Umpires-- N/A.

T--2:53. A--83.