Posted on: Saturday, April 21, 2001
Rice pitcher shuts down Rainbows in 10-0 win
Advertiser Staff
It was as close to a perfect game one could get.
Kenny Baugh pitched a one-hitter and faced the minimum number of batters in leading nationally ranked Rice over Hawai'i, 10-0, to even the three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series yesterday at Recking Park in Houston.
Baugh (9-2) allowed a second-inning infield single to Patrick Scalabrini, only to pick him off, and hit pinch-hitter Aaron Pribble in the ninth, only to have him erased on a game-ending double play. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound senior right-hander struck out 11. It was the first time a Rice pitcher has faced the 27-batter minimum.
"In all my years of coaching, this is the best I've seen a college pitcher pitch," UH acting coach Carl Furutani said. "Talk about command. He was missing (pitches) on purpose."
Furutani added that in past games against UH, Baugh's breaking pitches were suspect. Not last night. "His breaking pitches were hard," he said.
In the process, the Owls (36-12, 21-5 WAC), ranked between No. 2 to No. 8 by three publications, mathematically eliminated the Rainbows (19-22, 9-17) from the conference title. The Rainbows are 12 games behind the first-place Owls with 10 conference games remaining.
Unlike Thursday's victory in which the Rainbows did not commit an error, they reverted to old habits, committing three errors, two accounting for three unearned runs against UH starter Sean Yamashita (2-7). He kept the Rainbows as close as possible against Baugh, but a dropped fly ball by new right fielder Cortland Wilson paved the way for a four-run third inning for the Owls. Furutani said it was twilight at the time and there might have been some glare, but added that the ball "was catchable."
Yamashita allowed seven runs (four earned), nine hits and two walks in 5° innings. He had three strikeouts.
The Rainbows got off to an inauspicious start. Leadoff batter Austin Davis drilled Yamashita's first pitch of the game over the left-center field wall for a home run.
But Wilson's error, the first of two in the game that gives him 20 miscues for the season, blew the game open for the Owls. With two out and a run scoring on Mike Lorsbach's single, Phillip Ghutzman hit a fly ball to right field, where Wilson dropped the ball, allowing two runners to score. On the play, second baseman Lane Nogawa made an errant throw that allowed Ghutzman to reach second. Ghutzman then scored on Jesse Roman's double to give the Owls a 5-0 lead.
The Owls added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Hunter Brown doubled and scored on Lorsbach's RBI single in the fifth. Bobby Bryan doubled with one out in the sixth and scored on Davis' ground single to center. Both runs were against Yamashita.
Rice added three runs in the eighth off reliever Matt Le Ducq.
If there was a highlight for UH, it was William Quaglieri's 1· scoreless innings of relief. He struck out three of the seven batters he faced.
The series concludes at 9 a.m. today, Hawai'i time, and will be broadcast live on KCCN AM 1420. Chad Giannetti will pitch for UH.
