'Bows sweep San Jose State in WAC baseball
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
How sweep it is for Hawai'i baseball.
The Rainbows got quality pitching, good fielding and timely hitting in sweeping San Jose State, 4-1 and 6-5, in Western Athletic Conference baseball yesterday.
A Rainbow Stadium crowd of 1,003 saw the Rainbows (11-16, 6-12 WAC) sweep their first series of the season, avenging a sweep by the Spartans (15-12-1, 5-9) at San Jose March 1-3.
The first game, a continuation of Saturday's rain-interrupted contest, concluded with junior right-hander Sean Yamashita (1-4) earning his first career victory as a starter and his first complete game. Saturday's game was stopped with one out in the bottom of the first inning and resumed from that point yesterday.
"It feels good to get that monkey off my back," Yamashita said of his performance. "But I just hope we can keep going in a positive direction."
Yamashita's performance was the second complete game in as many games for the Rainbows. Jeff Coleman threw a complete-game shutout on Friday to ignite the sweep.
"It was motivation to keep going," Yamashita said of his effort. "He got one. It's time for me to get one, too."
UH acting coach Carl Furutani, a pitching coach by trade, said it is difficult for a starter to get back into the rhythm when a game is resumed the way it was yesterday.
"I didn't expect Sean to go as long as he did," Furutani said. "But when I saw him pitch the first three innings, I said, 'geez, this guy's on top of his game. He's throwing easy, he's not laboring at all.' He got quick outs, so I said this guy has a chance to go pretty deep into the game."
Yamashita, who threw only one inning on Saturday, using 13 pitches, said he wasn't affected by the rain interruption.
"It felt the same, nothing changed," Yamashita said. "It didn't hurt me."
Yamashita was efficient, throwing 104 pitches and allowing just five hits and two walks, while striking out eight. The Rainbows committed their only error of the series — a bad throw by shortstop Cortland Wilson — but Yamashita got his second double play of the game to negate the miscue.
"The defense worked for me," Yamashita said. "I got a lot of double plays. That was good. Our defense did a great job."
But Wilson contributed on offense, hitting a school-record-tying three doubles in the game.
The Rainbows needed good pitching and defense because runs were hard to come by against San Jose State starter Tim Adinolfi (3-4). Despite allowing nine hits and six walks, he gave up just four runs, two on bases-loaded force plays. He stranded 11 runners in his six-plus innings, including the bases loaded twice.
In the regularly scheduled game, the Rainbows blew a 5-1 lead in the top of the seventh, but got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth on Tim Montgomery's RBI single as they extended their winning streak to three.
The Rainbows got a little scare in the top of the fifth when starter Wakon Childers felt a cramp in his forearm near his right elbow, the same one that required surgery, causing him to miss the 2000 season. A UH trainer said it was "nothing major." Because of his elbow history, Childers was removed for precautionary measures. He is listed as day-to-day.
"We talked about this," Furutani said. "I told him, you feel something, you let us know. It's only a little spasm, nothing serious. I'm glad that he did that because it comes down to trust. I don't expect him to miss a turn."
Childers was looking sharp, having used just 65 pitches in 4á innings. He allowed a walk and two hits, one a solo home run by John Fagan.
"I just wanted to come out and keep us in it," Childers said of his abbreviated outing. "I made some pretty good pitches for the most part. I got a slider up a little bit; the guy hit it out. Other than that, I felt pretty good. I'm getting a lot more comfortable on the mound. I stayed with my windup this time."
But with two out in the fifth, he threw one pitch to Kevin Frandsen and felt the cramp. He gave way to William Quaglieri, who retired Frandsen and pitched a scoreless sixth. But with two out in the seventh, he surrendered three runs and Matt Le Ducq gave up another as the Spartans tied the score at 5.
Aaron Pribble (3-0) was the most effective of the three relievers for his 1¡ scoreless innings of work, even though he allowed Gabe Lopez's two-run double that tied the score. (The runs were charged to the relievers before him.)
The Rainbows broke the tie in the eighth against reliever Casey Minister (0-2). With one out, Brian Bock singled and was lifted for pinch runner Derek Honma, who advanced to second when Danny Kimura walked.
Dave Fuqua came in for Minister and was greeted with a ground single to center by Montgomery that drove in Honma with the go-ahead run. Arthur Guillen then lined into a double play to end the inning.
Bryan Lee allowed a single and walk in a scoreless ninth for his third save.
The Rainbows, who had lost 12 of their last 13 games entering the series, hope the sweep leads to better things.
"I don't think we ever got down," Childers said. "We just couldn't understand why we kept losing too much. We're playing good ball right now and we'll see how the tournament goes. But the most important thing is when we get back to the WAC, we get going again."
There is no rest on the horizon for the Rainbows, who have 17 players with varying degrees of injuries. They will play the next seven consecutive days, starting today, in their Easter Tournament. Chad Giannetti (0-3, 7.53 ERA), who has made three starts this season, will start for the Rainbows against Centenary tonight at 6:35, Furutani said.
