Posted on: Sunday, May 20, 2001

UH Sports
Rainbows rally in 9th to dump Vulcans

By Stacy Kaneshiro and Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writers

On a night made fashionable by comebacks, the University of Hawai'i rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat UH-Hilo, 9-8, in the Western Athletic Conference baseball season finale for both teams last night.

A Who's Who in Rainbow Baseball History crowd of 3,192 — including UH pitching great Derek Tatsuno and retired umpire Hide Yamashita — watched retiring UH coach Les Murakami make his first public appearance since his Nov. 2 stroke and gave him a standing ovation during an emotional 20-minute ceremony after the fourth inning. They then cheered wildly as the Rainbows overcame an 8-2 deficit entering the bottom of the ninth.

With the score tied at 8, the rally was completed by Gregg Omori's RBI single to left that scored Tim Montgomery from second base.

"I don't think it could have ended any better for the last game of the season," said Omori, who was 5-for-6 with three RBIs.

Added senior Wakon Childers: "My last experience was very emotional with Coach Les coming out and everything. The game itself — coming back — it's a fitting way to end the year."

The Rainbows (29-27, 16-20 WAC) handed acting coach Carl Furutani a winning season, before seniors Danny Kimura and Patrick Scalabrini dumped a cooler of water around the surrounded coach.

"I think it took awhile for them to settle down because it was emotional from the beginning," Furutani said. "It was just a matter of time and these guys never gave up. I was just hoping we didn't run out of time."

On the other side, it was another disappointing finish for the Vulcans (5-45, 3-33), who were handed their 20th consecutive loss in their aloha season in the WAC. They become a Division I independent next year.

UH's Bryan Lee (6-2) allowed an unearned run in one inning of relief. Billy Rayl (0-1), who came in from third base with one out in the ninth, also gave up an unearned run because of an error that prolonged the inning.

The Rainbows sent 11 batters to the plate in the ninth.

Purtell, who was 3-for-6, had two singles in the inning, including a two-run single up the middle that skidded under second baseman Mike Hobbs to tie the game at 8.

Scalabrini, who had a walk and scored the third run of the inning, was elated at the finish.

"We were kind of disappointed early when we were losing — it felt like we were letting everyone down. It feels great now."