Posted on: Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Rainbows' Bryant will pitch tonight
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i will use its hottest starting pitcher on four days' rest tonight against Winthrop.
Stephen Bryant pitched seven scoreless innings in Thursday's 15-0 win against Florida State, using 100 pitches in the process. But UH coach Mike Trapasso said the senior right-hander is up to it.
"He says he feels good and wants to do it," Trapasso said. "Even though four days' rest is the norm, there's still concern because it's different from going once a week, but then he wants to do it and we want him to and we'll see what happens."
Bryant (4-0) has extended his scoreless innings streak to 20 and has not allowed an earned run in his past 26. He has started the only two games in which UH has thrown shutouts. Both games were blowouts (the other was 9-0 against South Florida) so it wasn't necessary to extend him just to get the complete games.
Colby Summer (1-0), who didn't start in the Florida State series, will start tomorrow's game. He pitched two scoreless innings of relief in Byrant's win against FSU.
Although Winthrop has since dropped from the two national rankings it was listed in last week, it is still a formidable opponent. The Eagles, who are from Rock Hill, S.C., are the preseason favorite to win the Big South Conference.
Winthrop lost 2 of 3 at the Yellow Book USA Classic hosted by Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif., over the weekend.
The Eagles have one of the top prospects in the nation in outfielder Daniel Carte. The junior was the Cape Cod League's MVP after batting .308, leading the league with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs for Falmouth (Mashpee, Mass.) in a 44-game season. He also had 13 steals and became only the sixth player in the Cape's history to reach double digits in home runs and steals.
Carte is batting .333 for the Eagles with six doubles, three triples, four home runs and 20 RBIs.
Winthrop arrives here with a .317 team batting average and averages 7.35 runs per game.
The Eagles' top pitcher is right-hander Kevin Slowey (5-0, 1.96 ERA). He has 39 strikeouts to four walks in 41¡ innings. He did not start in the Classic over the weekend. Winthrop has a team ERA of 3.46. (UH's is 3.27).
Spiers honored
It was just a matter of time before UH freshman shortstop Joe Spiers claimed his first WAC Player of the Week award, the first for a Rainbow position player this season. Bryant has been honored twice this season for the pitcher's award.
Spiers batted 7 for 12 with three walks, scoring seven runs and stealing 7 of 8 bases in the sweep of the Seminoles. He stole three bases Friday and four on Saturday, including two of third base. The most impressive was when he stole third off FSU right-hander Michael Hyde, igniting a five-run third inning in Friday's 15-0 win. He broke for third with Hyde still holding the ball and was nearly into his slide before Hyde even saw him.
"He's really been our ignitor from Game No. 1," Trapasso said. "We need him to continue doing what he's doing. It's good that he got some recognition."
His feats earned a mention on Baseball America Online in its weekend recap.
Spiers has been the quintessential lead-off hitter. He is batting .390 and leads the team with a .485 on-base percentage. He had 18 consecutive steals before being caught for the first time this season in Sunday's game.
Swinging success
The UH offense has picked up nicely since a 3-2 loss to UC Davis on March 2.
Matt Inouye, Luis Avila and Rocky Russo did well against FSU, each batting .500 in the series. Spiers and Isaac Omura continue to hit well. Omura leads the team with a .405 batting average and leads the team with 11 doubles and 19 RBIs. He also hit the team's first home run of the season in the FSU series.
Also coming around is outfielder Jose Castaneda, who hit the team's second homer with his grand slam Saturday. He is batting .286 and is second on the team with 13 RBIs.
"He was very much like a lot of our guys, struggling to find his rhythm early in the season," Trapasso said. "It was kind of where we were as a team, particularly offensively. The last six, seven games, he's swung much better, as we have as a team. Matt, Luis and Rocky, those guys all kind of gotten things going all at once. We need Greg Kish to get back into the swing of things after his (forearm) injury."
Hawai'i's sweep led to FSU dropping in three rankings. The Seminoles fell from third to 16th in Collegiate Baseball, 8th to 16th in Sports Weekly and 17th to 20th in Baseball America.
The Rainbows received points in "others receiving votes" in Sports Weekly, improving from 13 points in previous weeks to 30 points.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
"Looking at some early scouting reports we've been getting, they're very impressive," Trapasso said. "They've got a lot of good arms, they've got a lot of experienced players and offensively, they're putting up great numbers."