Hawai'i beats UCLA in opener

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Isaac Omura doubles in the Rainbows' first run of the season in the first inning.

UCLA's Matt Thayer is tagged out at third by Schafer Magana in the first inning. Photos by Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Senior pitcher Chris George overcame early game nervousness and freshman second baseman Isaac Omura batted 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead Hawai'i to an 11-5 win over UCLA in the Rainbows' collegiate baseball season opener last night.

A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,120 watched George (1-0) give up five runs in the first two innings and later retire the last 16 batters for 17 outs (double play) before giving way to freshman Guy McDowell, who tossed a scoreless ninth.

UCLA starter Wes Whisler (0-2), a preseason All-America candidate as a first baseman, lasted four-plus innings, allowing eight runs — seven earned.

"The thing that impressed me the most was the way Chris George settled after he was so antsy," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Every fastball was up because he was over-throwing. What impressed me the most was the way he settled down."

Of course, it helped that the Rainbows offense kept him in the game. The left-handed hitting Omura keyed both of UH's four-run innings — the first and fifth — with a double to the opposite field and eventually scored, and a bases-clearing triple to right-center. He also had a bunt single to third and a sacrifice foul fly to left before striking out in his final at-bat.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," UH hitting coach Brian Green said of Omura. "He's been one of our most clutch guys in intersquad."

Omura, an all-state pick as a junior at Mid-Pacific Institute under coach Dunn Muramaru, said he wasn't nervous.

"Playing for Coach Dunn in high school was pretty nerve-wracking," Omura said. "I think I got it all out of my system back then."

It also helped that he played at Murakami Stadium in last year's state tournament, won by the Owls.

"Playing in front of crowds like this for ILH (and state tournaments) helped," he said. "It was fun."

The Rainbows pounded out 14 hits, three for extra bases; Tim Montgomery had a double to go along with Omura's double and triple. Every Rainbow position starter scored at least once and eight of them had at least one hit.

In eight innings, George allowed seven hits — all in the first three innings — while walking two and striking out six. It appeared George's problems were continuing in the third inning, when he allowed a one-out walk and back-to-back singles to load the bases. On the latter single — a liner to center by Preston Griffin — center fielder Montgomery made a strong throw toward the plate to hold the runner at third. It turned out to be crucial as George got Ryan McCarthy to ground to Omura for an inning-ending double play. George was perfect the next five innings and McDowell, a Saint Louis School product, pitched a perfect ninth.

The Rainbows got off to an inauspicious start when George allowed the first two batters to reach on a walk and single, and third baseman Schafer Magana's throwing error loaded the bases. George struck out the next two batters before catcher Chris Denove's double to center cleared the bases to give UCLA a 3-0 lead.

Hawai'i sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first for four runs on five hits, including a two-run single by junior college transfer Nick Ponomarenko and RBI single by Brian Bock to put UH ahead 4-3.

But the Bruins got two more in the second on RBI singles by McCarthy and Casey Janssen before George settled down.

The Rainbows regained the lead in the fourth on Omura's foul sacrifice fly to left and left-handed hitting Josh Green's opposite field RBI single to left on an 0-2 count.

"We kept our poise," Green said. "Our two-strike adjustment was great."

Omura's opposite field double in the first and Brian Finegan's single in the fourth came on 0-2 counts and Ponomarenko's two-run single came on a 1-2 count.

The Rainbows padded their lead with a four-run fifth on a bases-loaded walk to Finegan and Omura's triple.

More crucial to Trapasso was Bock's two-out, RBI single in the eighth.

"I was afraid that once Isaac hit that triple, we lost our focus, the game was in the bag," Trapasso said. "I was happy that Bock got that hit to put us up by six. Five-run lead in college baseball isn't a whole lot."

The series continues tonight at 6:35. Left-hander Mike Kunes is slated for UCLA. But there is a setback for the Rainbows. Colby Summer, the 6-foot-8 right-hander, has been scratched from tonight's start because of elbow tendinitis, Trapasso said. Either left-hander Justin Cayetano or right-hander Ricky Bauer will start in his place.