First-game woes hurt Rainbows
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
It's first things first for the Hawai'i baseball team as it resumes Western Athletic Conference play against Louisiana Tech starting tomorrow.
WHO: Louisiana Tech (3-9 WAC, 12-26 overall) vs. Hawai'i (5-4, 20-12) WHERE: Les Murakami Stadium TICKETS: $6 blue and orange sections; $5 red section adult; $4 red section 65 and older; $3 students ages 4 to 18 and UH students. PARKING: $3 TV/RADIO: KFVE (channel 5) and KKEA (1420 AM) will broadcast all three games live PROBABLE STARTERS: 6:35 p.m. tomorrow—LT RH Clayton Meyer (4-3, 4.91 ERA) vs. UH RH Ricky Bauer (6-2, 2.91 ERA) 6:35 p.m. Saturday—LT TBA vs. UH RH Stephen Bryant (4-2, 2.17 ERA) 1:05 p.m. Sunday—LT TBA vs. UH RH Clary Carlsen (6-3, 2.95 ERA)
What the Rainbows (5-4 WAC, 20-12 overall) would like to do is win the first game of a conference series for a change. Although it has won two of its first three series, UH has done so by winning the second and third games at Louisiana Tech and against San Jose State.
Western Athletic Conference baseball
"We have to do well on Fridays, that's for sure," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We haven't won a Friday game in league yet. We're going to have to come out of the gate well."
For UH, it is imperative to have a good start in the series. After all, No. 3 starter Clary Carlsen (6-3, 2.95) has won his last four starts, including three WAC games, and No. 2 starter Stephen Bryant (4-2, 2.17) has won three of his last four starts.
That leaves No. 1 starter Ricky Bauer (6-2, 2.91), who has yet to win a WAC start this season. It hasn't been for lack of effort. His only sub-par outing of his three WAC starts was at Louisiana Tech (five runs in 3¡ innings). In the loss at Rice and the no-decision in an eventual loss to San Jose State, Bauer pitched well, and he is coming off four shutout innings of relief against Sacramento State.
"I hope it's just tough luck on that part because Ricky has thrown well, except at Louisiana Tech," Trapasso said, "so he has to do a better job (tomorrow night)."
The second-place Rainbows are 4 1/2 back of WAC leader Rice (11-1, 27-7). To stay within range of the Owls by the time they come here May 7-9, the Rainbows can't afford many more losses. Still, Trapasso said it is too early to say UH needs to sweep this series; the goal is to take two, then sweep, if possible.
"If you go out and win every series, you're going to be in great shape and you'll have a good chance to finish in the top half of the league and that's what our goal is," he said.
The Bulldogs (3-9, 12-26) are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. Last weekend, they were swept at home by Nevada, losing the final game of the series, 27-9. The Bulldogs issued 20 and allowed 23 hits in that game.
Still, that is no consolation to the Rainbows, who already lost once to the Bulldogs and have had lapses in games, as they did in a 6-3 loss to Sacramento State on April 6.
"We stress to our guys all the time, it's really not about who we're playing," Trapasso said. "The opponent is really secondary to how we come out in the level of intensity that we play with. If we're coming into every game locked in, intense and play with toughness, then it doesn't matter who the opponent is. We'll play well."
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
