UC-Irvine hands Hawai'i second straight loss, 8-1

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

When Bryan Lee struggled, it showed. But when Sean Tracey did so, he kept damage to a minimum.

The difference was reflected in UC-Irvine's 8-1 win over the Hawai'i baseball team last night before 1,306 at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Rainbows dropped to 6-8 with their second straight loss, while the Anteaters won their second straight to improve to 10-9.

"What they did best tonight was when we left the ball up, they hit it," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

For the second consecutive week, Lee (2-1) had a subpar outing — at least compared to his first three starts — lasting 5á innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and a walk.

"Everything was up and they hit it," Lee said of his outing.

Lee allowed an RBI single in the first to Brown, a solo home run to Brett Smith in the fourth and RBI doubles to Chris Miller in the fifth and Jordan Szabo in the sixth. He departed trailing 4-1.

Lee kept damage to a minimum during a one out, bases loaded situation in the fifth with a run already in. He got Brett Smith to hit a comebacker for a force out at home and got Effren Trejo to ground out to first to end a potential big inning.

Relievers Sean Yamashita and Chad Giannetti did not fare well either. Yamashita allowed a two-run home run to R.J. Brown during his 1¡ innings of work, while Giannetti gave up two runs in two innings.

On the other side, UCI's Tracey (3-1) gave UH opportunities, as he allowed eight hits and three walks in seven-plus innings. He had 3-0 counts on six batters, allowing a 3-2 single to Scooter Martines to start the second and a 3-2 double to Lane Nogawa to start the sixth. Neither ended up scoring because each time, Tracey got an inning-ending double play, one of which began with a 3-0 count.

"He got into a little trouble, but the defense really stepped it up," UCI coach John Savage said. "He made some big pitches at times."

Added Trapasso: "We didn't take advantage of good counts and good pitches (to hit)."

When Tracey labored in the eighth — a single, error and walk loaded the bases with no out — freshman right-hander Jimmy Alstot came out of the bullpen to strike out Cortland Wilson in a nine-pitch at-bat, got Kevin Gilbride to pop out to short and got Chad Boudon to roll out to first to escape unscathed. He struck out the side in the ninth.

"Alstot was outstanding," Savage said.

Trapasso used a fifth different leadoff batter last night in third baseman Brent Cook, who leads the team with a .379 batting average. Cook was 1 for 5. He also moved Nogawa from seventh to second. Nogawa batted 3 for 4 with two doubles, including an RBI hit-and-run with Cook aboard in the third.

The series continues at 6:35 tonight with UH sending left-hander Aaron Pribble (2-0) against right-hander Brett Smith (2-2).