Rainbow baseball team to juggle starting pitchers
| • | Player statistics |
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Unable to perform in games how it does in practice, the Hawai'i baseball team will try a cerebral approach as it resumes Western Athletic Conference play against San Jose State this weekend.
• WHO: San Jose State (17-8, 3-3) vs. Hawai'i (7-16, 0-3) • WHEN: 6:35 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1:05 p.m. Sunday • WHERE: Les Murakami Stadium • TICKETS: $6 adults (blue or orange); $5 adults (red); $4 (65 years and older, students 4-18, UH students with ID — red only).
"We'll do the same things we'll always do because we practice well," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We just haven't played like we practiced, so we're just going to change the approach on the mental side in some of the things we work on at practice and try to make them more game-specific, situational-specific. We're still tweaking. I don't like juggling lineups and juggling rotations, but when guys aren't having success you have to try something."
WAC baseball
The Rainbows (7-16, 0-3 WAC) will try to snap a seven-game losing streak when it plays host to the Spartans (17-8, 3-3 WAC), who won two of three from WAC newcomer Louisiana Tech last weekend.
For starters, the rotation has changed drastically. Chris George, whose 12 strikeouts against UH-Hilo showed the potential that Trapasso had talked about before the season, will start tomorrow's opener. It does not necessarily make him the No. 1 starter.
"I don't even know if we have a No.1 starter," Trapasso said. "We're going to go with guys we think are capable of keeping us in games for as long as they can. George has good stuff, but he has to stay consistent, stay focused and stay away from that one bad inning."
William Quaglieri, who has amassed the third-highest innings output despite pitching out of the bullpen, will make his first start of the season Saturday.
Freshman Jason Piepmeier, whose 6 1/3 innings were the longest stint of any UH pitcher during the UH-Hilo series, will start Sunday.
"Quaglieri deserves a start because he's been our most consistent guy and Piepmeier was lights out last weekend," Trapasso said.
After using a pretty set lineup most of the season, Trapasso has had to tinker with the batting order.
First baseman Gregg Omori, who led the team with a .367 batting average and 11 home runs and 62 RBIs last season, is batting .250 with 12 RBIs.
"You have people saying we messed up Gregg," Trapasso said. "We haven't changed a thing, not one thing with Gregg Omori. We're not stupid. We wouldn't come in and have a guy hit .370 and try to change his stroke, change his swing. ...
"Now, we're obviously trying to make some changes because we know why he's struggling. It's the same things he did last year, but he just hasn't been able to hit that way. He hit great in the fall. Like they say, 'If it ain't broke, don't mess with it.' But now we reached a point where we have to make changes in his swing because he's hitting the same way he did last year, but it's just not working this year."
Omori sat out Sunday's doubleheader against UH-Hilo after going 1-for-10 the first two games of the series.
Shortstop Cortland Wilson, who batted fifth most of the season, started in two of the four games at Hilo. He is batting . 274.
The most consistent hitters in the lineup have been third baseman Brent Cook (.380), second baseman Lane Nogawa (.345) and designated hitter Scooter Martines (.308).
Catcher Brian Bock (.206) was 0-for-22 at one stretch until he singled in the eighth inning of Sunday's second game.
Notes: San Jose State's starting pitchers are 6-7, 195-pounder right-hander Jeremy Rogalstad (5-2, 2.06) tomorrow and 6-5, 220-pound left-hander Jahseam George (4-0, 3.31) Saturday. Sunday's starter has yet to be determined ... The Spartans are the top fielding team in the WAC with a .970 percentage; UH is second at .967. Catcher Adam Shorsher has thrown out 11 of 14 base stealers. He also leads the team in batting (.372), runs (26) and home runs (10) ... Second baseman Gabe Lopez (.350) leads the team in hits (35), doubles (8) and RBIs (30). He has a 16-game hitting streak ... Last year, the teams split six games with each team sweeping at its home. UH leads the all-time series 24-19.
