Hawai'i ends two-game slide by beating Chicago St.

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i did all of its damage with a pair of six-run innings to down Chicago State, 12-1, last night in the nightcap of the First Hawaii Title Rainbow Tournament.

The Rainbows (10-7) snapped a two-game skid by sending 10 batters to the plate in the first and fifth innings against the Cougars (0-4), who were outscored 49-9 in getting swept in a three-game series at Eastern Kentucky over the weekend.

A crowd of 804 — about a hundred cheering on Chicago State shortstop Jonathan Sakurai, an 'Aiea High graduate — attended the twinbill at Les Murakami Stadium. In the the earlier game, The Citadel beat Oregon State, 7-6.

"It was fun," said Sakurai, who went 0 for 2. "They were cheering for me even when I didn't make a play. It was great and exciting for us."

Hawai'i's Keahi Rawlins (1-1), making his first start since Feb. 1 in a 10-1 loss to Texas, pitched one-hit ball over five innings with two strikeouts. He allowed a run, four walks and hit a batter.

"I just had to kind of feel my way into this game," said Rawlins. "It's the first time I'm out here (starting) in a long while and I guess it wasn't my day today. I just wasn't throwing strikes. It was more of my focus stand point of the game and I need to keep my head in the game."

"He's still inconsistent," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He's still not where he needs to be. He was behind in the count too much, struggling out of the stretch more than anything else."

Rawlins pitched two perfect innings — the first and fourth — but labored with his control after getting the first two outs in the second and third innings. He gave up his only run in the fifth when he started the inning by hitting Brian Grippo, who stole second, and walked Sakurai. After both advanced on a sacrifice, Grippo scored when Alexis Galloza grounded out to shortstop.

Chuck Withers pitched a perfect sixth and Matt Buck hit a batter in a scoreless seventh.

Matt Inouye ignited the six-run first with an RBI double. Rocky Russo clubbed a three-run home run to right-center and Nate Thurber hit a two-run home run off the top of the center field fence off Cougars' starter Aaron Lang (0-1), who gave up eight runs on eight hits and five walks in four-plus innings.

Inouye had a sacrifice fly and Russo a two-run single in the six-run fifth.

For Russo, it was a matter of patience. He had not started at third for 11 games prior to Sunday's game against San Francisco. He was 1 for 4 with an RBI Sunday and 2 for 4 with five RBIs last night.

"It was a little frustrating," said Russo, a sophomore. "But I knew I was going to get my chance. I just had to work through it."

Thurber had three of UH's 11 hits. Inouye, Russo and Andrew Sansaver added two hits apiece.

The Rainbows' first-inning rally started with one out. Brian Finegan walked and scored on Inouye's double to right-center. After a walk to Josh Green, Russo homered to right-center. Sansaver singled and Thurber drilled his two-run home run to center to make it 6-0.

In the UH fifth, Sansaver led off with an infield single to first, took second on a balk and moved to third on Thurber's single to left, ending Lang's night. Scott Fritzler came in and gave up an RBI single to Greg Kish. After a sacrifice by Schafer Magana, Robbie Wilder walked to fill the bases.

Thurber scored on a passed ball as the other runners advanced before Finegan walked to load the bases again. Inouye's sacrifice fly to left also advanced the other runners before Green walked to load the bases again and set up Russo's two-run single to center. On the play, a throwing error by the center fielder allowed Green to score and make it 12-1.

The Rainbows will play Oregon State (8-2) at 6:35 tonight, while Chicago State will play The Citadel at noon. Hawai'i will start Stephen Bryant (1-1), who lasted 1¡ innings in Saturday's 14-1 loss to USF. The Beavers are scheduled to start Kyle Aselton (0-0), a left-hander.

• The Citadel 7, Oregon State 6: Chip Cannon's one-out, three-run double in the bottom of the ninth rallied the Bulldogs over the Beavers in the tournament opener.

Matt Covington and Jon Aughey led off with back-to-back singles, and Josh Stackley loaded the bases when he reached on a sacrifice and error on the play. After Chris Ard struck out, Cannon doubled to left-center to clear the bases and end the game.

Cannon batted 2 for 4 with three RBIs for The Citadel (1-0 in tournament, 3-4 overall) of the Southern Conference.

Jacoby Ellsbury was 3 for 4 with three runs, while Andy Jenkins was 2 for 4 with three RBIs for the Beavers (0-1, 8-2) of the Pac-10.

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

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