Rainbows slammed on road by California
Advertiser Staff
Six California pitchers combined on a four-hitter and the Golden Bears pounded Hawai'i, 11-0, yesterday in nonconference baseball at Evans Diamond in Berkeley, Calif.
The Rainbows (18-23) have been blanked in two of their past three games and have scored one run in their past 30 innings.
The Golden Bears (25-16) were led by Matt Einspahr's 2-for-4, five-RBI performance, which included a grand slam.
Joe Todoroff (4-2) pitched four scoreless innings of one-hit ball. He walked one and struck out three. Five relievers — Michael Cooper, Alex Trafton, Matt Swanson, Aaron Swick and Travis Talbott — each added a scoreless inning of relief. Todoroff was credited with the win despite not going the minimum five innings because it was predetermined the game would be staffed.
UH's Ricky Bauer (3-3) allowed three runs in two innings; Rich Olsen gave up one in four; Guy McDowell allowed one in one; and Dean Turner was tagged for six in two-thirds of an inning before being bailed out by Justin Costi.
Trailing 4-0, the Rainbows squandered a golden opportunity to score when they had the bases loaded with one out. But Matt Inouye grounded to third on a force play at the plate and Adam Roberts grounded to third for a force play at that base to end the threat. That was the only inning a UH runner reached third base.
With injuries and illnesses affecting UH's outfielders, catcher Erik Ammon started in left and freshman Ryan Asato started in right. Derek Dupree is expected to join the Rainbows for the San Jose State series, which starts tomorrow, UH coach Mike Trapasso said. Dupree has been suffering from flu-like symptoms since last weekend's Rice series. Greg Kish is unavailable because of broken ribs and Robbie Wilder injured his ankle in Sunday's Rice game.
Einspahr's slam came in a six-run eighth inning against Turner. He faced nine batters, allowing three singles, a double and home run, along with two hit batsmen.
The Cal game was the last nonconference contest for the Rainbows, who have 15 games left and are in last place in the six-team Western Athletic Conference. At 5-10, they trail conference leader Nevada (8-4) by 4ý games.
The Rainbows took 2 of 3 from San Jose State in Hawai'i. They will play all three games this weekend at Blethen Field, instead of Municipal Stadium, which will be used by the Single-A San Jose Giants of the California League.
The Spartans (9-6) are a half-game back of Nevada.
Hawai'i will use its usual starting rotation of Stephen Bryant tomorrow, Colby Summer on Saturday and Costi on Sunday. All of the games will be played during the day.
