Rainbows thump BYU
to stay alive in
WAC race

Hawaii's 18-11 victory moves them to
within 2-1/2 games of sixth-seeded
San Diego State

Star Bulletin staff

PROVO, Utah — The University of Hawaii baseball team continued its traveling salvation show with an 18-11 victory yesterday over Brigham Young University before a Cougar Field crowd of 237.

The Rainbows are 3-2 on this crucial road trip and must continue their winning ways if they harbor any hopes of making it to the Western Athletic Conference tournament in two weeks.

Hawaii is 20-31 overall and 12-13 in league play. BYU is 31-14 for the season and 17-8 in North Division action. The Cougars fell 11/2 games behind front-running Utah, but already have qualified for the postseason tournament.

The Rainbows aren't on that playing field just yet. The three division leaders and the three other teams with the best WAC records advance to the tournament in two weeks in San Diego.

West Division rival San Diego State currently is the sixth seed. The Aztecs opened their three-game series with New Mexico today with a 2-1/2-game edge over Texas Christian University and Hawaii.

The Rainbows close the regulars season with a three-game against San Diego State at Rainbow Stadium next weekend. If they win their remaining five games, they will be the No. 6 seed.

"Give the kids credit for this game because they played under unbelievable conditions," UH head coach Les Murakami said. "It was cold with snow flurries. It was probably in the high 30s by the end of the game.

"And what a performance by Daven Hermosura. He pitched well, even though he gave up 11 runs. In our ball park, the most they would have scored off us was two runs. Every little mistake he made ended up with the ball going out. But he just kept pitching.

"I never thought of taking him out. The only time I worried was in the sixth and seventh innings because we stopped scoring. I told our guys we can't quit scoring or they're going to catch us."

But Hermosura wouldn't let them. Despite giving up 11 runs, he stayed around until the end to pitch his third complete game of the season. He is 5-4 with an ERA of 6.32, but more important, the senior has been a key reason for the Rainbows' strong showing in the second half of the season.

Since their 5-22 start, the Rainbows are 15-9 and have won 10 of their last 14. Weather permitting, Murakami was to send senior Andrew McNally to the hill today.

"It was snowing and sleeting so hard after the game, we barely made it back to the hotel," Murakami said. "If these games are canceled, they won't be made up.

"Then whoever has the best percentage will get in. I told the kids to stay focused and try to play one game at a time. If we win our last five games, we're in. That's all we need to worry about."

Early in yesterday's game, Hawaii looked as if it had plenty to worry about. The Cougars — keyed by Spencer Oborn's 13th homer of the season — scored five runs in the first two innings to take a 5-2 advantage.

But Hawaii came back to tie it with three runs in the third and took the lead for good with three more runs in the fourth. Sean Murphy paced the attack with two homers in those two innings. In all, the two teams combined for 10 home runs.

In addition to Murphy's blasts, Robert Medeiros hit his eighth of the season, Darren Blakely blasted his second and Greg Millichap broke out of his slump to hit his sixth. Murphy, Medeiros and Neal Honma drove in three runs apiece to key the victory.

Medeiros went 4-for-6 to raise his season average to a blistering .384. In WAC play, the Big Island senior is hitting .470. The Rainbows also continue to hit the ball well as a team. They had 23 hits yesterday to raise their overall average to .298 and WAC mark to .328.

"We've really been hitting the ball well lately," Murakami said. "But we need to in order to win at a place like this. The ball gets out in a hurry here. No way would there have been 10 homers at our park."

Hawaii concludes the series tomorrow at 8 a.m. Murakami said he wasn't sure who his starting pitcher would be, but Dusty Bergman is a likely candidate.

Box Score

Hawaii 	  	                	Brigham Young
	    	ab	r	h	bi	   		ab	r	h	bi
Nakano dh   	4	1	2	3	 Spencer 2b 	5	2	1	1
Dartt ss   	6	2	2	0	 Farnsworth ss 	4	2	3	1
Murphy 3b   	6	3	3	3	 Oborn lf  	3	1	1	3
Medeiros c  	6	3	4	3	 Decker 3b  	4	0	0	1
Millichap rf  	4	3	2	1	 Nelson c  	4	1	2	1
Aloy 1b  	4	1	1	0	 Stringham cf 	5	1	1	1
Honma lf   	5	1	4	3	 DowDell dh 	5	1	1	0
Masanda 2b  	5	3	3	2	 Winget rf  	4	1	1	0
Blakely cf  	6	1	2	2	 Circuit ph 	1	0	1	1
Takemori lf  	0	0	0	0
Totals  	46	18	23	17	 Totals 	40	11	14	10

Hawaii		203	321	025--18
Brigham Young	140	021	111--11

E—Medeiros, Decker. DP—Brigham Young 3 (Farnsworth-Spencer-Waldrip, Oborn-Spencer, Spencer-Farnsworth-Waldrip). LOB—Hawaii 11, Brigham Young 8.

2B—Nelson, Farnsworth, Nakano, Winget. HR—Oborn (13), Murphy 2 (4), Medeiros (8), Blakely (2), Stringham (7), Millichap (6), Nelson (14), Winget (8), Farnsworth (4). SB—Medeiros. (14). SF—Decker, Nakano.

		    	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Hermosura (W, 5-4) 	9	14	11	10	3	4
Mangrum (K, 1-1)  	3-2/3	9	8	6	4	2
Tittrington	    	1-1/3	3	3	3	1	0
Kenner		      	2-2/3	6	2	2	1	2
Hancock		    	1-1/3	5	5	4	1	1

WP—Hancock, Hermosura. PB—Nelson 2. HBP—by Hermosura (Oborn 2), by Mangrum (Millichap).

T—3:22. A—237 (turnstile).

Umpires—Parento (plate), Kleis (first) Gilbert (third).

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1997 Rainbow Men’s Baseball
Schedule and Record