Hawai'i not alone in weekend woes

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i is ahead of nationally ranked and defending league champion Rice in the Western Athletic Conference baseball standings.

The problem is the 1-2 Rainbows are in fifth place, a game ahead of the last-place, 0-3 Owls (ranked No. 14 in USA Today's Top 25 coaches poll).

Ironically, the two teams picked to finish tied for last in a coaches' preseason poll lead the way. San Jose State, which swept the Owls over the weekend, is 3-0. Louisiana Tech is second at 2-1 after its series with UH.

Fresno State and Nevada begin their WAC season this week.

The Rainbows, 13-12 after their first homestand, hope a change of scenery helps. They begin their first road trip of the season today against Pacific in Stockton, Calif. The game will be broadcast live at 4 p.m. Hawai'i time on KKEA (1420 AM).

Colby Summer (1-0, 4.06 ERA) will start for UH against the Tigers (10-14), who are coming off a 9-6 loss to Stanford on Sunday. The Rainbows took 3 of 4 from the Tigers in Honolulu last month.

The trip continues with a three-game WAC series at Fresno State (14-15).

The Rainbows are coming off a 9-6 loss to Louisiana Tech on Sunday in which the bullpen allowed six runs in the ninth inning. Their big three relievers of Rich Olsen, Darrell Fisherbaugh and Guy McDowell combined to allow five walks, three hit batsmen and three hits. Fisherbaugh and McDowell gave up two and four runs, respectively, in a combined two innings. Before Sunday, the two had allowed nine runs in 27á innings.

The bullpen collapse wasted an otherwise fine outing by starter Stephen Bryant, who made his third start in 11 days. He allowed three runs in 6¡ innings.

But the Rainbows' woes weren't solely on the pen. Hawai'i had batters reach base in every inning of Sunday's game, except the ninth. But UH only scored in one inning, a six-run sixth.

"We have to play better," UH coach Mike Trapasso said after the loss. "We played not to lose, rather than play to win. We played tentative, we played scared, we played soft."

NOTES

Junior second baseman Isaac Omura leads the team in batting (.411), doubles (12), home runs (3), RBIs (26) and walks (20). He has already surpassed a career high in extra base hits (16) and is two RBIs shy of tying his previous high of 28 as a freshman. His walks are four away from his career total of 24 in his first two seasons. His 18 runs are two shy of his career high he established as a freshman.

Freshman shortstop Joe Spiers is the only Rainbow to start all 25 games and he leads the team with 20 steals (in 24 tries).

Freshman catcher Erik Ammon started the season with a shoulder injury, but has been steady the past month, batting .314. His .478 on-base percentage is second to Omura's .509.

Juniors Matt Inouye (center field) and Rocky Russo (DH/third base) have lifted their batting averages, hitting .304 and .303, respectively.

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

• • •