Rainbows roll to first Easter title since 1999
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Freshman Keahi Rawlins pitched six effective innings and his offense ripped seven different pitchers for 14 hits as Hawai'i trounced Western Illinois, 13-2, last night to win the 28th Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament.
Freshman center fielder/ catcher Matt Inouye, who was 2-for-5 with two RBIs last night and 4 for 4 in Friday's semifinal and hit .400 in the tournament, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and one of five Rainbows named to the all-tournament team. He was joined by junior first baseman Andrew Sansaver (.429, 4 RBIs), freshman second baseman Isaac Omura (.263, 7 RBIs), junior shortstop Brian Finegan (.316, 6 RBIs) and sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer (complete-game win).
"Right now, I've learned to hit the curveball," Inouye said of his recent hitting success. "Because I'm hitting curveballs, I'm starting to see a lot more fastballs."
"He carried us and played great," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of Inouye. "He's so versatile. He's playing center field, he's catching. He's grown from this and he'll be exciting to watch the next few years. He brings so much energy. He infuses energy into our team and makes us a better club, makes players around him play better."
Rawlins (1-2), a product of Moloka'i High, gave up a run on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in his longest outing of the season in helping UH (17-14) surpass last year's team's win total and capture the tournament title for the first time since 1999. The Rainbows finished 3-2 in the tournament. They beat the Leathernecks, 9-1, in the tournament opener on Tuesday.
"He threw well," Trapasso said of Rawlins, who used 97 pitches. "We hit uncharted territory with him for this year in pitch count. But that's what I wanted to do, get him extended, get him close to a 100 pitches."
After retiring the side in order in the first, Rawlins pitched himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the second and got a great defensive play when on a relay from right fielder Josh Green to shortstop Finegan to third baseman Schafer Magana nailed Ryan Schmidgall at third stretching a double into a triple. In his final inning, he allowed a lead-off double to Joe Rooney, who eventually scored on the second of two wild pitches in the inning.
"It seems my last inning, I always give up one run, two runs," Rawlins said. "But I think I'm progressing every inning I go out there and throw, so I feel good about that."
Freshman Rich Olsen tagged on two hitless and scoreless innings of relief for UH and senior Bryan Lee pitched the final inning, giving up a run.
"Our freshmen class, they're so good," Finegan said. "They have so much talent. Next couple years are going to be really good for these guys."
Hawai'i tagged Leathernecks starter James Kalinowski (0-3) for four runs — three were unearned — in two-thirds of an inning of work. The Rainbows never looked back after the four-run first, scoring in five of the next seven innings. Six relievers who followed did not fare much better for Western Illinois (10-14), who finished 1-4 in the tournament.
Sansaver led UH's 14-hit attack by batting 3 for 5 with two RBI doubles. Finegan and Josh Green also had two hits for UH.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE 4, AIR FORCE 3: Emerson Frostad drove in two runs and Nic Puckett pitched 3á scoreless innings of relief for his first save to lead the NAIA Warriors to the tournament's consolation championship yesterday.
All-Tournament Team
Catcher—Tim Casey (Western Illinois); First base—Andrew Sansaver (Hawai'i); Second base—Isaac Omura (Hawai'i); Shortstop—Jose Rodriguez (Lewis-Clark); Outfield—Josh Phifer (Air Force), Tony Shockley (Air Force), Paul Gallegos (Lewis-Clark); DH—Joe Rooney (Western Illinois); Pitchers—Ricky Bauer (Hawai'i), Paul Vignola (Air Force). Most Outstanding Player—Matt Inouye, (Hawai'i); Most Outstanding Pitcher—Marc Kaiser (Lewis-Clark)
