Posted on: Wednesday, April 20, 2005
'Bows looking for offense against Cal
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i will play its final nonconference game of the season against the Pac-10's California Golden Bears at 11 a.m., Hawai'i time, today at Evans Diamond in Berkeley, Calif.
It is the first time since 1999 the teams will play each other. The Rainbows swept a three-game series at UH that season and own a 26-21-1 lifetime record against the Golden Bears.
The Rainbows (18-22) will play San Jose State in a three-game Western Athletic Conference series starting Friday.
The Golden Bears (24-16) are 7-2 against common opponents of UH's. They are 1-1 against Pacific, 1-0 against San Francisco, 3-0 against Washington State, 1-0 against Nevada and 1-1 against Sacramento State. UH is 6-8 against the same opponents.
As it did in its last midweek game, UH will start with Ricky Bauer (3-2, 3.81 ERA) followed by a number of relief pitchers. The Bears will start right-hander Joe Todoroff (3-2, 4.47).
The Rainbows are hurting in the outfield with Greg Kish (rib cage), Robbie Wilder (ankle) and Derek Dupree (flu) either not being able to play or day-to-day. All are making the trip; Dupree will join the team in San Jose, staying behind for the Berkeley segment to get better, UH coach Mike Trapasso said.
"We're down to four outfielders, but Erik Ammon (catcher) has played some outfield before," he said.
The healthy outfielders are Matt Inouye, Nate Thurber, Jeff Piaskowski and Ryan Asato.
The Rainbows need to increase their offensive output. They totaled four runs and 14 hits in losing 2 of 3 from Rice over the weekend. They had only five hits in a 3-1 win against Hawai'i Pacific a week ago. But they did produce 24 runs and 48 hits on their previous road trip when they went 1-3 at USF and Nevada.
For the second road trip in a row, the Rainbows are carrying just nine pitchers. The weekend rotation for the San Jose State series remains the same with Stephen Bryant (5-3, 3.23), Colby Summer (1-4, 4.61) and Justin Costi (1-4, 3.63).
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
