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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, May 19, 2005

Hawai'i takes its last shot at Rice

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

With the odds heavily stacked against it, Hawai'i just might be primed for nationally ranked and first-place Rice in this weekend's Western Athletic Conference baseball series in Houston.

"We're back to not having a lot of expectations and that's when this team plays well," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of his Rainbows, who had been picked as a regional team in preseason by Baseball America.

The Rainbows play the Owls, ranked 12th by Baseball America, starting tomorrow at Reckling Park. First pitch is 2 p.m., Hawai'i time. The game will be broadcast on KKEA (1420 AM).

Third-place Hawai'i (25-25 overall, 12-12 WAC) has six games to make up four games against the Owls (36-16, 16-8). The Rainbows finish the regular season next weekend at Louisiana Tech.

Even a sweep of Rice still means UH would trail the Owls by one game. The 'Bows would then need to win the Louisiana Tech series and hope the Owls falter against San Jose State. But Trapasso is optimistic for the Rice series, despite the fact the Owls outscored Nevada, 37-9, in last weekend's series sweep at Reno.

"We always have fun playing at Rice," Trapasso said. "We always play them competitively. We'll see what happens."

Hawai'i will send ace right-hander Stephen Bryant (7-3, 2.84 ERA) tomorrow against Josh Geer (9-3, 3.14). Bryant is coming off his first complete-game win of the season that earned him his fourth WAC Pitcher of the Week honor. He beat Rice on April 15 in a 3-2 decision at Les Murakami Stadium.

On Saturday, the Rainbows will start right-hander Justin Costi (2-5, 3.41) against Eddie Degerman (7-1, 2.61), who beat UH, 3-1, on April 17 in Honolulu.

Rice closes the series by using freshman left-hander Joe Savery (7-4, 1.97), a two-way player who plays first base on days he doesn't pitch. Savery leads the WAC in batting at .392, 10 points ahead of UH second baseman Isaac Omura. Hawai'i will not decide on a Sunday starter until game day, Trapasso said. Colby Summer had been the Sunday starter, but has struggled in his last two starts, lasting a combined 4á innings and allowing seven runs.

"I'm going to wait and see who's pitched and who hasn't," said Trapasso, meaning which pitcher is available after the first two games of the series. "We'll just kind of go from there."

Meanwhile, outfielder Erik Ammon's ankle apparently is OK. He left Saturday's game after he stepped on a baseball trying to run down the first-base line after a third strike wasn't held by the catcher. He was replaced by Greg Kish, who missed about a month with a rib cage injury before returning last Sunday. Ammon practiced on Tuesday without any discomfort, Trapasso said. Ammon is batting .258, but has an on-base percentage of .439, third-highest on the team.

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

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