'Bows walk away with sweep of Vulcans, 14-5

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

It was literally a walk in the park yesterday for the Hawai'i-Manoa baseball team.

Hawai'i-Manoa's Robbie Wilder high-fives his teammates after scoring during a nine-run second inning against Hawai'i-Hilo at Les Murakami Stadium. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Clary Carlsen (2-2) gave up three runs on five hits and three walks in six innings for the Rainbows (8-5), who swept their second consecutive series and extended their winning streak to seven, matching last year's season-best.

Rich Olsen allowed two unearned runs in an inning, but was pulled after walking consecutive batters to start the eighth inning. Darrell Fisherbaugh struck out five in the final two innings.

Because the Rainbows exploited UHH pitching to the tune of a .365 average and 11.67 runs per game in the series, Carlsen was not needed in the closer role in the first two games, allowing him to start yesterday.

"I'm getting used to it," Carlsen said of his third career start at Manoa. "I've got a ways to go, but I'll figure it out eventually."

The Rainbows backed Carlsen with the big second inning in which they sent 13 batters to the plate. Vulcans starter Brian Ebbs (0-2), who was charged with eight runs in 1¡ innings, took the brunt of the damage.

A wild pitch scored Manoa's first run, with the big hits coming on Greg Kish's two-run single, which was preceded by an error and two walks, and Matt Inouye's three-run double, which also was preceded by two walks. Ebbs was lifted for Clay Daugherty, who walked two and allowed an unearned run before getting the Vulcans out of the inning.

"I've just been trying to battle up at the plate and it's been working for me," said Inouye, who was 6 for 12 with a double, home run and six RBIs in the series, lifting his team-leading batting average to .432.

With the big lead, Carlsen just threw strikes. In the fourth, the Vulcans got a lead-off single by Sean Tamura, an RBI double by Johnny Dudoit and an RBI single by Tom Henderson before Carlsen struck out David Chu and got Marc Caviglia to ground into a double play.

The Vulcans scored again in the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Ryan Taiariol and Jonathan Cabral to pull to 9-3. But the Rainbows got two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the first when Schafer Magana grounded into a bases-loaded double play and the other on an infield single by Robbie Wilder.

The Vulcans scored in the top of the seventh on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Creighton Kahoali'i, but the Rainbows responded with a run-scoring single by Brian Finegan.

Hilo got one in the eighth after two walks, a wild pitch and a passed ball, only to see Manoa get successive bases-loaded walks by Wilder and pinch hitter Troy Hanzawa to pull ahead 14-5.

Although the Rainbows have made big strides since losing 2 of 3 in the Cal State Northridge series three weeks ago, Inouye said they still have to play with desire.

"This streak doesn't matter at all," said Inouye, who also had two steals in the game. "We have to go hard every game, keeping winning."

Next up for the Rainbows is San Francisco, which dropped a 5-1 decision yesterday to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at Sacramento State's River City Classic tournament. The Dons are 2-6.

Rainbows coach Mike Trapasso said he is likely to follow the same pitching setup for the Dons series as he has with the previous two. Ricky Bauer would pitch the series opener Friday, followed possibly by Stephen Bryant Saturday and Carlsen Sunday, if he isn't used too much in relief in the first two games.

"I don't think we're in any position to count on anything other than what we're going to do the next game," Trapasso said of the Bauer and TBA pitching rotation. "That's the approach that has seemed to work for us the last seven games, so we might as well keep up with that for now."

Trapasso said he needs to give freshmen Steven Wright and Fisherbaugh, and sophomore Keahi Rawlins some starts. He will likely get them starts or extended relief outings in the Rainbow tournament, which starts two days after the USF series.

This year's tournament will not take place during spring break as it had in previous years. The early scheduling was to draw marquee programs. Oklahoma State was scheduled but pulled out after a coaching change. This year's tournament has Chicago State, The Citadel and Oregon State.

Because the Rainbows will play eight games in nine days starting with the USF series, Trapasso is giving the players today and tomorrow off.

Meanwhile, second baseman Isaac Omura (ankle) and outfielder Jaziel Mendoza (hamstring) are still day-to-day.

Omura, who sprained his ankle Feb. 13 after making the turn at first base, played an inning of defense and had a pinch-hit single Saturday night. But he left for a pinch runner because of tightness.

Mendoza hasn't started since Feb. 8, but made a pinch-hitting appearance on Feb. 14 in the Florida International series.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.

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