’Bows face front-running
By Paul Arnett
San JoseState
Star-BulletinA month ago, the University of Hawaii baseball team was left for dead on the side of the road. The Rainbows had dropped nine in a row en route to a 5-22 overall record with little hope of turning things around this millennium.
But a gutsy pitching performance by freshman Dusty Bergman that resulted in Hawaii's first Western Athletic Conference win in nine tries was the spark head coach Les Murakami had been searching for in this sputtering season.
The Rainbows are 10-6 overall since that improbable win at New Mexico and 7-10 in the conference to put themselves on the edge of postseason play.
Next month, the three division winners and the next three teams with the best league marks advance to the WAC tournament at San Diego State.
Entering tonight's series opener with West Division-leading San Jose State at Rainbow Stadium, Hawaii is No. 8, trailing No. 6 San Diego State by 2-1/2 games.
"We feel like we need to win eight or nine of our last 13 games to make the tournament," Murakami said during yesterday's light practice. "Our main competition is San Diego State and TCU.
"But we've got a lot of difficult games left on our schedule. We have to play the top teams in our division and a three-game series at BYU (leaders in the North), so it's still a long shot."
Better that than nothing at all, which is something Hawaii faced only four weeks ago. In Murakami's mind, the keys to the turnaround are better relief pitching, healthier players and senior Daven Hermosura finally overcoming his academic problems.
Due to his late start, it took awhile for him to get into pitching shape, but lately, Hermosura has been Murakami's main man. He is 3-3 for the season with an ERA of 6.45. He has won his last two starts in WAC play.
Bergman (1-4, 7.77) will go tomorrow, but just who will start Sunday's finale for the Rainbows is still anybody's guess.
"I'd like to go with Jamie Aloy (2-7, 7.32), but his knee is still bothering him," Murakami said. "So I'm not sure who we'll go with. Depends on how many pitchers we use the first two games."
Murakami feels the Rainbows must win at least two against the Spartans, who have a half-game lead over Fresno State for first in the West. The Spartans are a stellar 30-15 for the season and 15-6 in the WAC.
San Jose State swept Hawaii the first time around at Memorial Stadium. Spartans head coach Sam Piraro will try to do it again by sending Jason Jimenez (4-2, 3.36) to the mound tonight. The other probable starters are Javier Pamus (4-3, 2.57) and Steve Carrieri (3-2, 4.32).
First baseman Robert Berns leads the Spartans at the plate with a .414 average. He has six homers, five triples and 14 doubles, with 50 RBIs. San Jose State has five regulars batting .300 or better.
Senior Robert Medeiros continues to lead Hawaii in hitting with a .352 average. He has four homers and 38 RBIs.
"We have a chance to get right back in the race if we do well this weekend," Medeiros said.
The facts
Today Hawaii vs. San Jose State at 7:05 p.m.; tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at 2:05 p.m.
1997 Rainbow Men’s Baseball
Schedule and Record
