Friday, March 27, 1998
UH wins big
After a 20-8 victory, Hawaii guns
By Al Chase
for the top seed in its Easter
Baseball Tournament
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii will try to nail down the No. 1 seed for the final two days of the Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament when it plays Nebraska tonight.
Scoring early and often, the Rainbows (24-11) ran their tournament record to 4-0 with an easy 20-8 victory over Wright State (10-10, 0-4) before 1,432 spectators at Rainbow Stadium last night.
UH head coach Les Murakami once again turned to The Committee to handle mound chores, and his batters feasted on the offerings of four Raider pitchers.
All but one UH starter -- designated hitter Tracy Nakano -- had at least one hit. But don't fault Nakano. He barely saw a pitch in the strike zone, swinging once (foul ball), and walking all four times.
The run output equaled UH's season high. It beat Cal State Sacramento, 20-9, earlier in the season.
Matt Wheeler (2-for-3, a triple and six RBIs), Darren Blakely (3-for-4, two triples and four RBIs) and Greg Millichap (2-for-4, two doubles and 4 RBIs) led the attack.
Wheeler, who came to the plate with the bases full three times, said he had never had that opportunity before.
"In that situation, I always try to get the ball in the air to make sure we get one run if there are less than two outs. Sometimes it falls in," the UH third baseman said.
"I feel I've been fairly consistent at the plate this season, although I haven't had as much luck (with balls dropping in) lately as I did early in the year. But I haven't changed my approach."
A switch Murakami made last week has been paying dividends for the Rainbows. Since moving Millichap to the top of the batting order and dropping Blakely from that spot to No. 5 or 6, Millichap is 7-for-18 (.389) with four doubles, a triple, six walks and eight RBIs. Blakely is 10-for-18 with a homer, three triples, three walks and seven RBIs.
Blakely, hitting .276 at the start of the tournament, has raised his average to .305. Millichap has improved from .175 to .261.
"I'm not sure what they think, but I think it has helped them," Murakami said. "Blakely doesn't have to worry about working the count. He can just go up there swinging.
"Millichap is not the ideal leadoff man when he's on base, but you have to overlook that when you look at his on-base percentage."
Shortstop Michael Dartt is 9-for-13 (.692) in the tournament and has upped his average from .277 to .320. He also has walked four times and scored 10 runs.
"I'm just feeling a lot more confident and having a lot more fun," Dartt said.
"I read in Baseball America about this guy that had 200 hits, and 180 were singles. I'm not a home-run hitter, so I'm just trying to put the ball on the ground and leg it out. It's a big-time change in my approach."
Kamuela Binkie, normally a middle reliever, started for UH and picked up his second tournament victory. The coaching staff indicated prior to the game that he would be limited to two innings, making him eligible for the win.
Five more members of the bullpen followed, with freshman Gavin Garrick turning in the best performance.
In his first inning, he threw nine pitches, all strikes, and recorded three strikeouts, all swinging.
"I've never had that happen. I just threw fastball, fastball and then the slider and they bit on the slider each time," Garrick said. "I just learned the slider and used it for the first time against Cal Poly (Monday)."
Garrick, from Carson, Nev., was the focus of much recruiting attention until he hurt his arm during his junior year in high school.
"I threw a lot of pitches in one game and tried to come back three or four days later. I really didn't have a good senior year," the right-hander said.
"Since I've been here, they have been real cautious and taken things real slow. I don't think it will be too much longer before I'm 100 percent. Right now I'm about 75-80 percent.
"I can't go strong for a long period of time right now, but maybe late this year or next year."
Said UH pitching coach Carl Furutani: "You see the bulldog in him (Garrick) when he's out there, and that's what we want."
With Troy Yoshimasu still not fully recovered (blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand), UH's starting rotation for the remainder of the tournament will be Dusty Bergman tonight, Randon Ho tomorrow and Yoshimasu on Sunday.
Lewis-Clark St. 8, Cal Poly-SLO 3: The Warriors (18-7, 3-1) took a 5-1 lead after three innings and kept the Mustangs (7-26, 0-4) winless in the tournament.
Brian Flanagan had three hits and two RBIs, and Brandon O'Leary knocked in two runs for LCS.
Nebraska broke a 2-2 in the fifth when Erik Mumm scored on Cliff Durham's sacrifice fly.
Jonny Young and Anthony Jackson paired hits for the Vulcans (11-22, 2-2).
Box Score
Tournament Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Hawaii 4 0 1.000 -- 24 11 .686 Lewis-Clark St. 3 1 .750 1 18 7 .720 Nebraska 3 1 .750 1 10 7 .588 Hawaii-Hilo 2 2 .500 2 11 22 .333 Wright State 0 4 .000 4 10 10 .500 Cal Poly-SLO 0 4 .000 4 7 26 .212
Lewis-Clark State 8, Cal Poly-SLO 3
Nebraska 6, Hawaii-Hilo 2
Hawaii 20, Hawaii 8
Hawaii-Hilo vs. Lewis-Clark State, 11 a.m.
Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo vs. Wright State, 2:30 p.m.
Nebraska vs. Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
Wright State Hawaii ab r h bi ab r h bi Stosik cf 3 0 1 1 Millichap lf 4 3 2 4 Pederson rf 2 0 0 0 Whitsett lf 0 0 0 1 Griffith ph 1 0 0 0 Martin rf 5 3 2 0 Marshall lf 4 0 2 0 Aloy 1b 4 2 2 0 Bruskotter ph 1 0 0 0 Konishi 1b 1 1 0 0 Bruner 2b 3 1 0 0 Nakano dh 0 1 0 1 Bean dh 5 0 1 0 Takamori dh 2 0 0 0 Bautsch 1b 5 1 3 1 Wheeler 3b 3 1 2 6 Kesterke c 4 2 2 0 Perreira 3b 2 1 0 0 Hatton 3b 5 2 2 2 Blakely cf 4 2 3 4 Morris ss 4 1 1 1 Chan 2b 6 0 2 1 Theado rf-cf 4 1 1 2 Aoki c 3 2 1 0 Stegmaier c 2 0 0 0 Dartt ss 3 4 3 0 Totals 41 8 13 7 Totals 39 20 17 18 Wright State 000 300 104--8 13 2 Hawaii 353 501 12x--20 17 5Bruner reached base on catcher's interference in the third.Kesterke reached base on catcher's interference in the fifth.
E--Marshall (1), Morris (7), Whitsett (2), Konishi (1), Aoki 2 (3), Dartt (18).
DP--UH 1 (Chan-Dartt-Aloy). LOB--WS 12, UH 9.
2B--Bautsch (9), Kesterke (1), Hatton (1), Theado (1), Millichap 2 (5). 3B--Wheeler (1), Blakely 2 (4). SF--Morris (1), Whitsett (1), Wheeler (4), Blakely (3).
IP H R ER BB SO Brant (L, 2-3) 2 9 10 9 3 2 Duncan 1-2/3 3 6 6 5 0 Begley 3-1/3 3 2 2 0 4 Drinnon 1 2 2 0 0 0 Binkie (W, 5-1) 2 3 0 0 0 0 Watterson 2 4 3 2 1 3 Garrick 2 0 0 0 0 4 Baptista 1 2 1 1 1 2 Mackenzie 1 1 0 0 1 0 Sakaino 1 3 4 1 0 1Brant pitched to two batter in the third.WP--Brant (5), Duncan (1), Begely 2 (4), Watterson (4), Sakaino 2 (4). Balk--Brant (1). HBP--Blakely, Konishi and Dartt (by Begely). CI--Aoki 2.
Umpires--Montalbo (plate), Ogawa (bases).
T--3:22. A--1,432.
Lewis-Clark St. 302 101 100--8 14 1 Cal Poly-SLO 010 000 110--3 11 1Jon Zumult, James Ramshaw ((4), Ryan Cunneen (9) and Barry Larson; Jason Porto, Dan Merritt (7) and Matt Bailey. W--Ramshaw (2-0). L--Porto (1-5).Leading hitters--LCS: Kendrick Wallace, 2-4; Larson, 2-4. 2b; Brandon O'Leary, 2 RBIs; Brian Flanagan, 3-4, 2b, 2 RBIs; Toby Cheff, 2b; Ryan Luther, 2b; Elliott Strankman, 3-4; Jim Heriford, 2b. CP: Matt Elam, 2-5, 3b; Matt Bailey, 3-4, 2b; Craig Ritter, 2b.
Nebraska 000 022 200--6 12 0 Hawaii-Hilo 110 000 000--2 10 0Pete Lythgoe, Brain Downing (3) and Andy Sawyers; Ben Siff, Jim Tanaka (6) and Clinton Vaughan. W--Downing (1-2). L--Siff (1-4).Leading hitters--Neb: Brian Schmidt, 3-4, 2b; Ken Harvey, 2-4, Craig Moore, HR; Danny Kimura, 3-5; Kevin Harrington, 2b; Sawyers, 2b, 2 RBIs. UHH: Anthony Jackson, 2-4; Jonny Young, 2-2, 2b.
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