UH rips Centenary in Easter Baseball Tournament
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Patrick Scalabrini and Gregg Omori each hit home runs last night and every Rainbow starter got at least one hit as University of Hawai'i pounded Centenary, 13-1, on the opening day of the Verizon Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament at Rainbow Stadium.
Scalabrini finished the evening 2-for-3 with four runs batted in and one run scored. Omori was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Seven other Rainbows scored at least one run.
Chad Giannetti earned the win, scattering eight hits over seven innings, with three strikeouts and no earned runs.
Grant Sato relieved Giannetti in the eighth, and Jean-Paul Gauthier, in his first outing of the year, closed out the game.
Omori kicked off the parade of hits with a two-out solo homer over the left-field wall in the first inning.
Hawai'i took control of the game with four runs in the second, three on consecutive walks with two out.
Kevin Gilbride struck out to start the inning, but Lane Nogawa followed with a double off the left-field wall. Jacob Flick drove in Nogawa with a hit to left then advanced to second on the throw.
Tim Montgomery followed with a walk and then teamed with Flick on a double steal. Cortland Wilson then walked to load the bases.
Arthur Guillen tried to sacrifice bunt, but the ball popped up and was caught by Ryan Hageman for the second out.
But Centenary pitcher Robbie Buhl had lost control by then. He walked Matthew Purtell to score Nogawa and was pulled in favor of reliever Ryan Treanor.
Treanor promptly walked Omori and Scalabrini to score Montgomery and Wilson, respectively. Treanor struck out Gilbride to end the inning.
Hawai'i added another run in the third off a single to center by Wilson that drove in Flick from second.
"Any time you get a big lead early, it makes it easier to hit, easier to pitch, easier to field," Omori said.
Centenary's lone run came in the fourth when Seth Winterer drove in Mike Hicks with a single to center field.
UH put the game out of reach in the sixth. Scalabrini hit a one-out, three-run homer that sailed past the left-field wall, over the stadium fence and onto the bordering roadway.
Gilbride then hit a single to right-center and scored on a double by Nogawa. Tyler Robertson, Centenary's fourth pitcher of the night, entered the game and walked Flick and Montgomery to load the bases. Wilson singled to score Nogawa and Guillen drove in Flick with another single to give UH a 12-1 lead.
The Rainbows scored their final run on a sacrifice fly by Wilson.
"I thought we came in pretty relaxed tonight," said UH head coach Carl Furutani. "When you play relaxed you might make mistakes, but you can turn those mistakes into plays."
And while the Rainbows made few mistakes — an error each by Scalabrini and Wilson — they made plenty of defensive plays, including double plays in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth innings.
"We've been through some really hard times this season," said Scalabrini. "We just tried not to be dejected and to work hard every day. Now we've won four straight. It was just a matter of time before things turned around for us."
UH plays Santa Clara tonight at 6:30.
• Kita-Kyushu 6, Hwai'i Pacific 5: Toshiya Yokoyama went 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs and Nobuaki Miumi hurled a complete game for Kita-Kyushu.
HPU (16-10) tied the game at 5 in the top of the ninth. Trailing 5-3, Bryce Uegawachi walked to open the inning and scored on a triple by Ryan Blood. Wade Taguchi followed with a run-scoring single to even the score.
Kita-Kyushu scored the winning run in its half of the ninth on a bases-loaded fielder's choice grounder.
Blood, who also had a double in the game, finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Neill Sullivan took the loss, giving up five hits and four earned runs in 1á innings.
• Lewis-Clark State 12, Hawai'i Pacific 3: Matt Helman hit a grand slam and drove in six runs to lead the defending NAIA national champions.
Helman, Nick Bullen and Kurt Koshelnik each went 3-for-5 for Lewis-Clark State.
Mike Chavez (2-2) pitched five scoreless innings of relief for the Warriors (22-5) against the Sea Warriors (16-11).
Wade Taguchi was 2-for-4 with an RBI for HPU.
• UC-Santa Barbara 9, Wichita State 4: Tyler Von Schell and Jeff Bannon each had two RBIs to back the complete-game pitching of Rylie Ogle (6-1) for the Gauchos (14-7).
Ogle allowed four runs (three earned), eight hits and four walks while striking out seven.
