Road trip gets tougher as UH visits No. 3 Rice
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
It is tough enough that the University of Hawai'i baseball team will face the Western Athletic Conference's best team in a three-game series starting today at Reckling Park in Houston.
But the Rice Owls also happen to be one of the best in the nation.
The last-place Rainbows (14-24 overall, 3-9 WAC) are as far apart as they can be from the first-place and third-ranked Owls (32-8, 14-1), who are five games ahead of their closest conference competitor.
"We just have to play our best game," UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a telephone interview from Houston.
Rice swept the Rainbows March 8-10 in Honolulu. While the Owls won the series finale, 13-4 — the first two games could have gone either way. And that's the UH performance Trapasso hopes will show up this weekend.
Trapasso will stay with the same starting rotation of Chris George (4-2, 5.23 ERA) today, Sean Yamashita (2-4, 4.27) tomorrow and Ricky Bauer (1-4, 5.80) Saturday. Bauer is coming off a strong outing in a tough 2-1 loss to Louisiana Tech.
George and Bauer each pitched complete games against Louisiana Tech. Although Yamashita lasted only three innings, Aaron Pribble finished with five scoreless innings. That means the bullpen is well-rested for the series.
Rice started Steven Herce (8-1, 3.05), Philip Humber (7-1, 2.49) and Jeff Niemann (4-0, 2.65) against UH in Honolulu. Niemann pitched Tuesday in a non-conference game against Houston. Justin Crowder (4-2, 1.96), who beat the Rainbows twice last year when he was at Texas Christian, is likely to face the Rainbows.
Offensively, the Owls are led by first baseman Vincent Sinisi (.404, 5 HRs, 51 RBIs). He batted 9-for-12 with two home runs, six RBIs and five runs against the Rainbows in the earlier series.
The Rainbows have some depth concerns for position players. While Julian Russell has been playing well at shortstop, his backup, Cortland Wilson, has a sore throwing shoulder. Wilson did start at designated hitter the past two games. Another shortstop, Jason Carlson, is also injured and did not make the trip.
If a backup is needed, third baseman Brent Cook would move to shortstop, Trapasso said. Cook played shortstop when he played at California.
If Cook is pressed into playing shortstop, Danny Mocny will play third, Trapasso said. Mocny, a backup at second base, is originally a third baseman.
Trapasso said that second baseman Lane Nogawa is fine. He collided with a Louisiana Tech player Sunday, but managed to play Monday.
Russell has been coming on strong offensively. A hamstring pull hampered his progress as spring workouts started and Wilson won the starting job.
Russell has started since the middle of the Easter Tournament. Although he has been playing primarily for his defense, he has lifted his batting average to .306.
Also hitting well of late is first baseman Gregg Omori, who is batting .285. His 14 doubles is second in the league to Sinisi's 16. Omori cracked his first home run of the season to help beat Louisiana Tech, 6-4, Saturday.
The Rice-UH series will be broadcast live on KCCN AM 1420. Air times are 1:45 p.m. today and tomorrow, and 8:45 a.m. Saturday.
