Manoa hammers Hilo in baseball
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Rainbows scored eight early runs to negate one bad inning by freshman Keahi Rawlins as they downed the Vulcans,12-4, last night to complete a season series sweep between the baseball programs of the University of Hawai'i system.
It was the fourth time in as many meetings that Manoa (20-19) beat Hilo (8-30). All of the games were played at Les Murakami Stadium.
Because their schedule is stacked at the start of the season, the Vulcans had been idle since March 25.
"The layoff hurt us," UHH coach Joey Estrella said. "But you have to give credit where it's due. They hit the ball real well."
A crowd of 544 saw the Rainbows score four runs in each of the first two innings against UHH starter Daniel Lockett (1-5), who gave up seven hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Meanwhile, Rawlins looked strong his first two innings, allowing only one base runner when he hit Douglas Nassimbene with two outs in the second.
But in the third inning with an 8-0 lead, Rawlins walked the lead-off batter and allowed successive singles to load the bases. After striking out David Chu, he hit Nalei Sooto to score one run. Scott McLaughlin's sacrifice fly to center scored another run and a wild pitch scored a third before Chris Savio drew a walk to end Rawlins' night.
"He just lost his concentration," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He had an eight-run lead. We told him he was going two or three (innings) and he knew it was going to be his last inning and I think he just lost his focus."
Rawlins (3-2) was credited with the win despite not pitching the required minimum of five innings because it was predetermined the game would be staffed by a committee of pitchers. Rawlins allowed three runs on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Trapasso said Rawlins will still start Sunday against Fresno State.
"I'll pitch better," Rawlins said. "I wasn't really focused tonight."
Rawlins said his fastball and slider worked well in the first two innings, but he lost command of the slider in the third.
Five relievers followed with freshman Rich Olsen the most impressive. He retired all six batters he faced, three on strikeouts. Justin Cayetano added 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Mike Peck, Bryan Lee and Guy McDowell each pitched an inning.
Brian Finegan and Brent Cook led the Rainbows' 15-hit attack with three hits apiece. Finegan had two doubles, scored three times and drove in a run; Cook also had two doubles, scored twice and had a sacrifice fly.
Rocky Russo and Tim Montgomery had two hits each, as well as two RBIs apiece.
Rainbow left fielder Jaziel Mendoza, who had been out with a stress fracture in his foot, returned to action. He ran the bases without a hitch and made one putout with no noticeable difficulty in his mobility. He batted ninth "because he hadn't seen a lot of pitching in a month, so we wanted to get him out there, get some at-bats," Trapasso said.
Matt Inouye, the team's leading hitter among regulars, had a good batting practice and was available, but was given another day off to rest a back problem.
• • •
