ISLE FILE
Nevada, UH picked 4th in WAC baseball
Advertiser Staff
The University of Hawai'i baseball team has been picked to finish tied for fourth in the six-team Western Athletic Conference, the conference announced yesterday.
The Rainbows, 16-40 overall and 5-25 in the WAC last season, tallied the same number of points (11) with Nevada after a vote of the conference coaches, who could not vote for their own teams. Louisiana Tech was picked to finish last.
Defending champion Rice, second in Baseball America's preseason rankings, was picked to finish first (25 points), followed by Fresno State and San Jose State, tied for second with 19 points each.
With 22 newcomers on its 34-player roster, Hawai'i had no members on the preseason all-WAC team.
Rice led the way with nine picks, including the Player of the Year, first baseman Vincent Sinisi, and the Pitcher of the Year, Steven Herce.
The Rainbows open the season with a three-game series against UCLA from Feb. 7-9 at Les Murakami Stadium. The Alumni game is Feb. 1 at 1 p.m.
MORE BASEBALL
• Arizona State blanks UHH: Six pitchers teamed on a four-hitter and 13 strikeouts as visiting Arizona State beat Hawai'i-Hilo, 9-0, in a season-opening game last night at Wong Stadium in Hilo.
Joel Bocchi homered, singled and drove in three runs for ASU. Rodney Allen, Jeremy West, Frank Mesa and Steve Garrabrants all paired hits as the Sun Devils pounded out 15 off four Vulcan pitchers.
BOXING
• State/Regional championships: The state's top boxers will compete in the 2003 Hawai'i State/Regional Championships Jan. 23-25 at the Pearl City boxing gym.
Action starts at 7 each night and admission is $7.
Winners advance to the 2003 U.S. Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in March.
Local boxers who already qualified with at-large bids through the Olympic Education Center are Samson Guillermo (119 pounds), Dat Nguyen (125), Glenn Miyose (125) and Van Oscar Penovaroff (132).
DIVISION II BASKETBALL
• BYU-HAWAI'I 83, WESTERN NEW MEXICO 63: Defending conference player of the year Alexus Foyle scored a game-high 34 points in 33 minutes to lead the Seasiders (9-1, 4-0) over the Mustangs (2-11, 0-5) in a Pacific West Conference game at Silver City, N.M.
• MONTANA STATE-BILLINGS 98, Hawai'i PACIFIC 81: The Yellowjackets (7-6, 1-4) overcame a career-high 30 points by Aaron Abrams to defeat the Sea Warriors (12-3, 1-2) in a PacWest game in Billings, Mont.
• HAWAI'I-HILO 93, CHAMINADE 87: Ryan Abrahams scored 27 points, Skip Esene 21, and Kyle Bartholomew and Ryan Houge 15 each as the host Vulcans (12-15, 4-1) defeated the Silverswords (9-8, 4-1) in a PacWest game in Hilo.
