UH pounds No. 21 Louisiana Lafayette
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i might not have won its own tournament, but it did the next best thing: beat the tournament champion.
Justin Costi pitched eight strong innings to lead the Rainbows over nationally ranked Louisiana Lafayette, 12-1, last night in the final day of the First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament before 1,866 at Les Murakami Stadium.
"It's great," Costi said of beating the Rajin' Cajuns, ranked 21st by Baseball America and 22nd by Collegiate Baseball. "It was good that we put a 16-spot in hits and 12-spot in runs. It was a big game. We came through."
The Rajin' Cajuns' 14-game win streak was snapped in suffering their first loss of the season (14-1). Louisiana Lafayette had clinched the tournament title after Friday's win and despite finishing with the same 4-1 record as Wichita State. The Rajin' Cajuns beat the Shockers, 19-3, on Tuesday to win the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Rainbows (9-8, 2-3), who scored four runs in Costi's three previous starts, scored as many in the second inning to chase Rajin' Cajuns' starter C.J. Blue (2-1), who was charged with three runs on four hits in 1¡ innings.
"They did it," Costi said of the offense. "They scored a lot of runs, got a lot of hits."
Costi (1-2) went eight innings, allowing a run — a home run to Dallas Morris in the seventh — on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Rich Olsen pitched a perfect ninth. Costi was one of three Rainbows named to the all-tournament team. Catcher Erik Ammon also was picked, as well as pitcher Stephen Bryant, who was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher.
"My fastball was working for me," said Costi, who added that his parents Christine and Mark Costi saw him pitch for the first time in several years. "I was hitting my spots. I didn't throw too many changeups or curveballs like I normally do. I just tried to hit my spots and let the defense take care of things."
Except for the home run, only one Rajin' Cajun reached third base.
Offensively, the Rainbows had season highs in runs and hits (16).
Adam Roberts, starting at third for the first time this season, hit a two-run double in UH's four-run second that included RBI singles by Jose Castaneda and Isaac Omura.
A six-run eighth was the Rainbows' most productive inning of the season when they sent 12 batters to the plate.
The resounding win was a tremendous turnaround from the start of the tournament, when the Rainbows dropped an 8-5 decision to Sacramento State in 13 innings, a game in which UH squandered golden opportunities to win. They then mustered just five hits in a 3-2 loss to UC Davis before breaking out with a 9-0 win against South Florida.
"It was a big win for us," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "The first three series (of the season) were against good opponents and then we come out Tuesday night and have the toughest loss I've gone through in 17 years of coaching. The thing we stressed after a tough loss like that was not letting it happen twice and yet that's what we did. But we rebounded against a good South Florida team. We came out with a good offensive approach (against Wichita State in a 3-2 loss). And everything worked out for us today (against Louisiana). The main thing is we played well three nights in a row."
Louisiana outfielder John McCarthy was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Moanalua High graduate Jim Strombach of Sacramento State also made the all-tournament team.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
WICHITA STATE 2, SOUTH FLORIDA 1: Damon Sublett's two-run single in the bottom of the first inning was all Mike Pelfrey and two relievers needed for Wichita State to knock off South Florida yesterday to clinch second place.
S. FLORIDA (9-9, 1-4) 000 000 001—1 4 0
WICHITA ST. (15-1, 4-1) 200 000 00x—2 7 2
Daniel Thomas, James Rowe (8) and Brian Baisley. Mike Pelfrey, Rob Musgrave (6), Kyle Touchatt (9) and Joe Muich. WP—Pelfrey (3-1). LP—Thomas (4-2). SV—Touchatt (3).
Leading hitters—South Florida: Bryan Hielmeier 2-4. Wichita State: Damon Sublett 2 RBIs, Kenny Waddell 2-3, double.
UC DAVIS 6, SACRAMENTO STATE 3: Lukas Kirby's two-run double ignited a three-run seventh inning that snapped a 2-all game. Moanalua graduate Jim Strombach led the Hornets (7-10, 2-3) with a 3-for-5 performance. Strombach finished the tournament batting 11 for 25 (.444).
UC DAVIS (8-9, 2-3) 011 000 310—6 12 2
SAC. STate (7-10, 2-3) 110 000 001—3 9 1
Vince DeCoito, Peter Soskin (6) and Tyler LaTorre. Ken Livesey, Mick Joyce (5), James Wheeler (7), Brandon Hall (8) and Matt Wilson. WP—Soskin (1-1). LP—Joyce (0-1).
Leading hitters—UC Davis: Brandon Oliver 3-5, RBI, double, SB; Lukas Kirby 3-4, 3 RBIs, 2 doubles; Dan Baldini 3-5, 2 RBIs. Sacramento State: Jim Strombach 3-5.
All Tournament Team:
C—Erik Ammon (Hawai'i). 1B—Brett Flowers (Sacramento State). 2B—Damon Sublett (Wichita State). 3B—Dallas Morris (Louisiana). SS—Brandon Oliver (UC Davis). OF—Jim Strombach (Sacramento State), Blake Hurlbutt (Wichita State), Josh Landry (Louisiana). DH—Brian Baisley (South Florida). P—Buddy Glass (Louisiana), Justin Costi (Hawai'i).
Most Outstanding Player—John McCarthy (Louisiana). Most Outstanding Pitcher—Stephen Bryant (Hawai'i).
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