Posted on: Saturday, March 19, 2005

'Bows topple LaTech

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

After a shaky start, Steven Wright threw a gutty eight innings and was backed by a 12-hit attack as Hawai'i beat Louisiana Tech, 8-6, last night in the Western Athletic Conference season opener.

It was a classic conference confrontation with back-and-forth scoring and a suspenseful finish for the Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,090, who saw the Rainbows (13-10 overall, 1-0 WAC) snap a two-game skid. Although the Bulldogs (7-15 , 0-1) were picked to finish at the bottom of the six-team conference, their resolution is right at the top, as far as UH coach Mike Trapasso is concerned.

"It was your edge-of-your-seat, look-for-the-heartburn-medication type of game," Trapasso said. "That's what you're going to get, particularly when you play LaTech because they are the top of the league when it comes to toughness and the scrappiness that they'll bring."

Wright (3-2) struggled through the first two innings, allowing four runs, or the total he had allowed in 25 innings of relief in his previous seven appearances. But he settled down long enough to let the UH batters do some work and rally from an early deficit. Wright allowed six runs on 10 hits and a walk with a career-high 11 strikeouts. His 125 pitches were a season high for any UH pitcher this season.

"He pitched like a warrior," Trapasso said. "He was one bloop hit away from throwing six shutout innings at the end. But (the Bulldogs) were doing a nice job. They had a good approach. I think four of their base hits were on sliders that he was leaving up,which is his money pitch. But he still seemed to be pitching well, so we stayed with him."

It was Wright's first start of the season. It came off his longest relief outing March 11 against Florida State when he pitched 6· innings of relief.

"I kept throwing the same speed," he said about the later innings when he was past the 100-pitch count. "Nothing changed. I felt fine."

He said he struggled early because he was not hitting his spots.

Guy McDowell came on in the ninth and made it interesting by walking the first batter and hitting the next, but was saved when Adam Cobb grounded into a double play hit to second baseman Isaac Omura's left. The runner on first slid into shortstop Joe Spiers and was called for interference, Trapasso said, so the runner on second had to return to second. McDowell then struck out Ben Tabor to notch his second save.

Besides Omura's double play, right fielder Jose Castaneda made an outstretched diving catch of a drive hit over him by Mims Boyce. Running toward the wall, he went horizontal to snag the ball like a wide receiver.

"Just saw it and caught it," said Castaneda, who said he was a safety in football in high school.

"He kind of misread it, but he's such a good athlete that he made up for it and made a good catch," Wright said.

Matt Inouye led UH's offensive assault by batting 3 for 5, including an RBI single in a three-run third inning.

But the big blow was Omura's two-run homer that put UH up 7-3 in the fourth. His team-leading third homer went over the right-field back fence, landing on the road. He was 2 for 3. Erik Ammon, Luis Avila and Rocky Russo also had two hits apiece for the Rainbows.

"I felt like I caught it good and it went," said Omura, who wasn't sure what kind of pitch he drove.

"The offense really stepped it up today," Wright said. "They really had my back today. They keep picking me up, I'll pick them up next time."

The Bulldogs scored in the first on a two-out, flare single to left by Gil Laird. But the Rainbows got two in the bottom of the first against Tech starter Mitch Tucker, who lasted just two-thirds of an inning.

The Bulldogs stormed back for three in the second on two sacrifice flies and an RBI single to take a 4-2 lead, only to see the Rainbows take the lead in the third with an RBI single by Inouye and two-run double by Russo.

Omura's homer made it 7-4 before the Bulldogs got two in the sixth to pull to 7-6. Hawai'i got an insurance run in the eighth on a bases-loaded flare single to center by Avila.

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

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