Pierzynski gives
Sharks a boost

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

A.J. Pierzynski ignited a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning that carried the Honolulu Sharks to a 3-1 victory over the Hilo Stars in a Hawaii Winter Baseball game at Rainbow Stadium last night.

Pierzynski, a third-round draft choice of the Minnesota Twins in 1994, replaced starting catcher Giuseppe Chiaramonte to start the sixth inning and made the most of his only at-bat, leading off the seventh with a first-pitch triple into the right-field corner.

Brent Abernathy, the Toronto Blue Jays' third-round pick in 1996, followed with a bloop double down the right-field line that scored Pierzynski, breaking a 1-1 tie.

Norman Hutchins' sacrifice bunt moved Abernathy to third, and he scored on a single to center by Nelson Castro.

Hilo starter Takao Inoue stranded five Sharks on the bases in the first five innings. Honolulu's Jason Grilli left five Stars on the basepaths and reliever Apostle Garcia stranded one before each team scored a run in the sixth inning.

For Grilli, the No. 1 draft pick of the San Francisco Giants last June, it was a better outing than his first start on opening night.

"I'm a little happier tonight," Grilli said. "I didn't have my good stuff and didn't get all the calls I wanted, but I'm not blaming the umpire. I was able to battle through it and get the job done."

Stingrays 3, CaneFires 2: At Wailuku, Nate Rolison's one-out double to right-center field scored Eugene Kinsale with the winning run in the 11th inning as the Stingrays concluded their season-opening homestand with six consecutive victories.

Hawaii Winter Baseball

Outrigger Division

		W	L	Pct.	GB
Honolulu 	3	3	.500	--
West Oahu 	2	4	.333	1

Volcano Division

		W	L	Pct.	GB
Maui		6	0	1.000	--
Hilo		1	5	.167	5

Today's games

Maui vs. Hilo, 6 p.m., Francis Wong Stadium.

Honolulu vs. West Oahu, 6:30 p.m., Hans L'Orange Park.

Sharks 3, Stars 1

		Hilo   	      			Honolulu 
		ab	r	h	bi			ab	r	h	bi
Freeman 2b  	3	0	1	0	Hutchins cf 	4	0	0	0
Kennedy ss  	2	0	0	0	Castro ss  	4	0	2	1
Pointer 3b  	3	0	0	0	Villalobos 3b 	4	0	0	0
McLure 3b-ss  	5	0	1	0	Barnes 1b  	4	1	2	0
Baker dh   	4	0	0	0	Kapler rf  	4	0	2	0
Zywica rf   	4	1	2	0	D.Johnson dh 	4	0	2	1
Deck 1b  	3	0	1	0	Glendnng lf 	3	0	0	0
R. Johnson cf  	4	0	1	0	Chiaramonte c 	2	0	1	0
Schmidt c   	4	0	0	0	Pierzynski c 	1	1	1	0
Budzinski lf  	4	0	3	0	Abernathy 2b 	3	1	1	1
Totals  	36	1	9	0	Totals 	33	3	11	3

Hilo    	000	001	000--1
Honolulu   	000	001	20x--3

E--Pointer, Abernathy. DP--Hilo 2 (Inoue--Freeman--Deck, Deck unassisted), Honolulu 1 (Barnes unassisted). LOB--Hilo 11, Honolulu 6.

2B--McLure, Barnes, Abernathy. 3B--Pierzynski. SB--Freeman 2.

    		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Inoue L, 0-2  	6	10	3	3	0	4
Schaffer    	2	1	0	0	0	0
Grilli L, 0-1	4	3	0	0	3	2
Garcia    	2	3	1	0	0	1
Iriki W, 1-0   	2	3	0	0	0	2
Minami    	1	0	0	0	0	2

Inoue pitched to two batters in the seventh.

WP--Grilli, Iriki. Balk-Grilli.

Umpires--Nelson (plate), Creek (bases).

Stingrays 3, CaneFires 2

11 innings

West Oahu   	001	000	100	00--2
Maui    	000	000	020	01--3

Jayson Durocher, Phil Grundy (3), Hiroshi Yamada (7), Paul Ah Yat (8), Joe Lisio (10) and Pee Wee Lopez; Mike Vavrek, Scott Randall (5), J.J. Pearsal (7), Darrin Babineaux (7), David Lee (8), Ryan Kohlmeier (9), Sean Bogle (11) and Jay Jones. W--Bogle (1-0). L--Lisio (0-1).

Leading hitters--West Oahu: Nobuhiko Matsunaka, 3-5, 2b; Hiroshi Shibata, 3b. Maui: Nate Rolison, 2b; Calvin Pickering, HR.

---

Hawaii Winter Baseball
1997 Roster & Schedule