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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, March 20, 2003

Coastal Carolina tops Rainbows, 8-5

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Reid Horton made his first start for Hawai'i, allowing three runs on five hits in 4á innings against Coastal Carolina.

Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Steven Carter pitched seven strong innings as Coastal Carolina downed University of Hawai'i, 8-5, to split the two-game non-conference baseball series last night before 538 at Les Murakami Stadium.

Carter (4-1) gave up two runs on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts in seven innings for the Chanticleers (19-5), ranked 28th by Collegiate Baseball. After Steve Soja didn't get an out and was charged with three runs in the eighth, Byron Binda added two scoreless innings of relief for his first save.

Reid Horton (0-1), making his first official start after starting an exhibition against Matsusaka of Japan last week, gave up three runs on five hits and three walks in 4á innings for the Rainbows (14-9).

The Chanticleers took a 3-2 lead in the fifth against Horton on a 0-2 count, RBI single by Brandon Powell and a sacrifice fly by Brett Grandstrand.

UH relievers didn't fare well either. Justin Cayetano allowed two runs in 1¡ innings; Mike Peck gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning; and Keahi Rawlins gave up a run in 1¡ innings. Guy McDowell pitched a perfect ninth, but the damage had already been done.

"All of our guys coming out of the pen tonight, except for Guy McDowell, were one-pitch guys because they couldn't throw or wouldn't throw their breaking balls for strikes," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "That's the story of these last five, six games. We're not throwing our breaking balls for strikes and it's making us one-pitch pitchers and making us pitch in negative counts all the time. If we get a positive count, we end up not trusting the breaking ball, so we just throw the fastball down the middle. So we have to focus on basics, focus a little bit better on the mound."

With Coastal Carolina leading 5-2 in the seventh, Peck walked two batters between the first two outs. Rawlins came in and quickly got ahead 0-2 on Mike Costanzo, who grounded an RBI single to right.

"I was supposed to get the ball on the outer part of the plate," Rawlins said. "But I just left it over the middle."

Trapasso said it's a matter of the pitchers being aggressive and trusting their pitches.

"It's young guys getting banged around for the first time all year, particularly against Rice and even at Fresno," he said. "So they're pitching on the defensive more than being aggressive and I think it's nothing more than that."

It has reached the point where Chris George is the only known starter. He will pitch tomorrow's opener against Nevada in a three-game Western Athletic Conference series. Trapasso said he does not know who will start the Saturday and Sunday games. Cayetano and Ricky Bauer were the last Saturday and Sunday starters.

The Rainbows got off to a good start last night, getting a run off Carter in the first inning. Brian Finegan walked, advanced to second on Andrew Sansaver's sacrifice and after Brent Cook flied out to center, scored on Rocky Russo's single to center.

The Chanticleers tied the score in the second on Jeff Baker's solo home run, only to see UH reclaim the lead in the third on Sansaver's sacrifice fly to center.

But the Chanticleers got two in the fifth, two in the sixth and three runs in the seventh for an 8-2 lead before giving up three in the eighth.