Hawai'i hammers Chicago State, 16-1
UH vs. Chicago State photo gallery |
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
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It was mission accomplished for Hawai'i after beating Chicago State, 16-1, yesterday to complete a five-game baseball series sweep at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbows (14-9) scored half of their runs from the 17 walks issued by Cougars' pitching. Sean Freeman (0-1) was tagged for eight runs, five hits and five walks in one-plus inning. Three other relievers combined for the other 12 walks.
Matt Daly (1-0) pitched five innings for the win, allowing an unearned run and two hits with six strikeouts. Nicholas Rhodes and Craig Johnson added two scoreless innings apiece in relief.
Hawai'i outscored Chicago State (0-11), an independent after a number of years in the Mid-Continent Conference, 66-9 in the series. Hawai'i used all of its position players, as well as seldom-used pitchers.
"From that standpoint, it was a good weekend for us," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was a long weekend, five games in four days. We'll take a couple days off, start practice again Wednesday."
It was UH's second five-game series sweep in as many seasons; it did the same to Western Illinois last year.
Hawai'i started clearing the first of six position starters from the fourth inning when it led, 9-0.
"A lot of guys played well," Trapasso said. "I thought we made some adjustments offensively. We got some good swings; the pitching wasn't very good, but that was really immaterial to what we're working on. I thought our two freshmen did well this weekend, Kevin Macdonald and Vinnie Catricala. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish and now we have to get ready for Arizona."
The Wildcats (13-5), ranked 17th last week by Collegiate Baseball, took two of three from Eastern Michigan over the weekend.
One Rainbow benefitting from the Chicago State series was shortstop Eli Christensen, who raised his average from .149 to .246 with an 8-for-14 weekend.
"When you're in a lull, it's always good to bust out of it," he said.
Hawai'i first baseman Kris Sanchez missed his first game of the season because of a jammed thumb from the previous day when he made a diving stab of a line drive. Part of his thumb nail was pulled back. He said he will be ready by this weekend's series. That means Justin Frash is the only Rainbow to play all 20 games this season.
With the victory safely tucked away, the Rainbows had some fun. Relief pitcher Tyler Davis started the ninth in left field for starter Ryan Asato. Davis didn't come close to getting any fielding chances as Johnson struck out the first batter and retired the next two on infield grounders.
Davis, who said he played outfield, first base and shortstop at Santa Barbara community college before transferring here, admitted nagging Trapasso to put him in the outfield.
"He was bugging me from the fourth inning on," Trapasso said. "He wore me out."
"I kept planting it in his head," Davis said. "(Trapasso) finally cracked."
Life wasn't so jovial for the visiting Cougars, who came closest to winning the second game of Saturday's doubleheader in a 3-2 loss. Two of UH's runs scored on wild pitches.
Outfielder Chris Goya, a 2004 Mid-Pacific Institute graduate and one of three Hawai'i players on the Chicago State roster, sat out yesterday's series finale with a hamstring problem he sustained in the 3-2 loss.
"When we come to the field, we expect to win," Goya said. "Sometimes the other team is just better and sometimes we just give it away."
Particularly frustrating for the Cougars was their pitching. They allowed 37 walks in 38 innings in the series. By contrast, UH's season total is 39 walks allowed in 177 innings.
"Let's face it, we're not in University of Hawai'i's class right now," Chicago State second-year coach Vern Hasty said. "Next year, year after, I fully expect to be in their class. We're going to come back here. But the rest of the way, we'll play some mid-major clubs who are more in our class and we fully expect to compete. I can promise you — and you can print this — that we'll have a better staff (in coming seasons). We'll give 'em a better game, too, not just one or two times."
The Cougars will play at UH-Hilo in a four-game series starting tomorrow. The Vulcans also are struggling at 1-16. After winning their first game of the season in a doubleheader split against Patten, the Vulcans were swept in a two-game series against Grand Canyon.
Yesterday's crowd of 791 brought the series total to 3,226, the least-attended series of the season.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.