Slaats returns to help shut out Air Force
POSTED: Sunday, March 21, 2010
After a week away, Josh Slaats picked up right where he left off.
When the Hawaii right-hander last left the Les Murakami Stadium mound, Slaats was finishing a shutout of The Citadel on March 5.
He missed his next scheduled start with soreness in his elbow and returned last night to strike out a career-high 10 Air Force batters in the Rainbows' 4-0 win over the Falcons.
A crowd of 2,516 watched Slaats turn in an efficient 51/3 innings in his return to the rotation. Reliever Blair Walters added four more strikeouts over 22/3 innings and Lenny Linsky ran the team's total to 15 in the ninth in UH's second shutout of the season.
“;I don't think we could ask any more of Josh than what we got,”; UH head coach Mike Trapasso said. “;Outstanding effort, he was ahead in the count, he was firm and he was pain free.
“;These guys can swing the bat; that's no small feat to shut them out. They really are a good offensive club; we saw that last night.”;
Hawaii (9-9) scratched out two runs off Air Force starter Alex Truesdale, who also set a career high with 12 strikeouts through seven innings, before Kolten Wong gave the Rainbows a cushion with a two-run homer in the eighth.
Slaats sat out the Southern California series due to soreness in his elbow and walked the first batter he faced. He then struck out six of the next eight in an Air Force lineup hitting .311 as a team entering the game.
“;It was almost like dusting cobwebs off,”; Slaats said of the leadoff walk. “;I was rushing to the plate and I had to slow down and it was good after that. ... I felt like my slider was good. I located it well and threw it well with two strikes.”;
Truesdale matched zeroes with Slaats through three innings before UH broke through in the fourth. Collin Bennett doubled down the third-base line and scored on Pi'ikea Kitamura's two-out single up the middle that knocked Truesdale off his feet on its way to center field.
The Rainbows added a run in the fifth with the aid of two Air Force miscues. Sean Montplaisir reached on an error and Air Force right-fielder Garrett Custons mishandled Greg Garcia's sharp single, allowing Montplaisir to score Hawaii's second run.
Slaats surrendered just a bunt single through five innings, but ran into trouble when he gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the sixth. Trapasso brought in Walters after Custons' bunt moved the tying runs into scoring position on Slaats' 75th pitch of the night. Walters then struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.
“;That was the pitch total we agreed on and it was the right move,”; said Slaats, who lowered his earned-run average to 0.40.
YESTERDAY
HAWAII 4, AIR FORCE 0
Air Force | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI |
B. Roberts 2b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Montplaisir lf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Custons rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Garcia ss | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Gentry 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wong 2b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Alexander dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Freitas c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Bast lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Bennett cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Randhawa 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Van Doornum dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carter cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kitamura 3b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Lane c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Torigoe 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
M. Roberts ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Koissian rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 30 | 0 | 4 | 0 | Totals | 33 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
Air Force | 000 | 000 | 0 | 00 | - | 0 | 4 | 3 | ||
Hawaii | 000 | 110 | 02x | - | 4 | 8 | 2 |
E-Air Force 3 (Custons, Randhawa, M. Roberts), Hawaii 2 (Wong, Kitamura). LOB-Air Force 6; Hawaii 6. 2B-Bast; Garcia, Freitas, Bennett. HR-Wong. HBP-B. Roberts. SH-Custons. CS-Bast 2.
Air Force | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Truesdale (1-3) | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Slaats (W, 2-0) | 51/3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
Walters | 22/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Linsky | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Umpires - Dave Yeast (Home); Billy Haze (First); Heath Jones (Third).
T-2:30. A-2,516.
FRIDAY
HAWAII 15, AIR FORCE 6
Air Force | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI |
Alexander dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Almadova cf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Carter cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Johnson rf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Randhawa 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Garcia ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Loosen 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Wong 2b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Roberts ss | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Doi ph/2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
B. Roberts lf | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Freitas c | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Custons c | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Fujii ph/c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lane c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bennett rf/cf | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Gentry 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Koissian cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bast rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Macdonald 1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Ausbun ph | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Torigoe 1b | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
Lerda-plog p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Van doornum dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Kitamura 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Chevalier ph/3b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Brackenridge lf | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||||
Totals | 28 | 6 | 7 | 5 | Totals | 35 | 15 | 16 | 14 |
Air Force | 201 | 010 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | 6 | 7 | 2 | |
Hawaii | 010 | 050 | 7 | 2 | x | - | 15 | 16 | 1 |
E-Air Force 2 (Loosen, Koehler), Hawaii 1 (Johnson). DP-Air Force 2. LOB-Air Force 3; Hawaii 10. HR-Bennett, Torigoe. HBP-Freitas, Bennett, Brackenridge. SH-Loosen; Garcia. SB-Custons, Roberts, M. CS-Roberts, B., Alexander, Loosen; Brackenridge.
Air Force | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Koehler | 41/3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Baker (L, 0-3) | 11/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Ceci | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Colangelo | 1/3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
Hourin | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Lerda-Plog | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Spangler(W, 2-3) | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
Moore (SV, 1) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
HBP-by Baker (Bennett); by Hourin (Freitas); by Hourin (Brackenridge). BK-Spangler.
Umpires - Heath Jones (Plate); Dave Yeast (First); Billy Haze (Third).
T-3:24. A-2.698.