Rainbows of Saturday fail to show up on Sunday

Saturday night left University of Hawaii baseball fans hungry for more.

Sunday afternoon had the opposite effect — especially the late-going of UH’s 8-1 collapse against visiting North Carolina State.

This one-sided and sloppy affair was made all the more disappointing by the Rainbows’ excellent showing of the night before. Hawaii soundly defeated the No. 6 team in the country, 8-3, and a statewide TV audience got to see it.

It was probably good for future crowds that Sunday’s loss wasn’t on the tube, and that many in attendance had left before a ninth inning that included an atrocious base-running mistake after two errors in the top half by the ’Bows.

“That’s unacceptable,” coach Mike Trapasso said of junior Eric Ramirez getting picked off of first to douse a blossoming rally. “That’s not him, that’s not us.”

Any time you have more errors (three) than hits (one) it’s not good. That — combined with reliever Jackson Rees getting roughed up for four runs in his Division I debut — gave the Wolfpack the win.

Of course, there’s NC State’s hitting, too. Brett Kinneman belted two doubles; he batted .500 for the series, including a home run.

“You make a mistake with a fastball, they do not miss it,” Trapasso said.

No doubt, NC State is very good. Though the Wolfpack pitchers Sunday were wild (eight walks), their velocity kept the Hawaii batters off balance. And, except for one inning, the visitors’ defense was very sharp, too.

It’s become an annual ritual, searching for bright spots after the first series. At least in this case it’s after three games including a win against the No. 6 team in the country, not after a split at Hilo.

So, here we go:

>> The second game of the season is the earliest UH has its first win against a fellow Division I team since 2012, when it beat Oregon in the opener. That also happens to be the Rainbows’ last winning season.

(Let’s try to forget about 2013, when Hawaii lost its first 10 games, and 16 of its first 17).

>> UH’s leadoff man, Dylan Vchulek, did his job. He got on base three of his four times up Sunday, with his team’s only hit and two walks. His on-base percentage for the series was .667. But of those eight times he reached base, Vchulek was brought around to score just twice.

>> Sunday’s starting pitcher, right-hander Neil Uskali, delivered five innings of three-hit ball, striking out four and walking two. Just one of the two runs he allowed was earned, and he certainly pitched well enough against a very good team to win. But that, of course, is impossible when his team scores no runs.

>> UH’s starting pitching overall looks to be in good hands with Uskali, rotation holdover Brendan Hornung and newcomer Dominic DeMiero. Hornung struck out nine and walked just one in a quality start Friday (again, no run support as Hawaii went down 4-0), and DeMiero was brilliant Saturday. The lefty yielded just six hits and one run in seven innings.

>>After a great freshman year, catcher Kekai Rios looks like he spent the entire offseason in the weight room. Like everyone but Vchulek, he went o-fer Sunday. But Rios contributed two run-scoring hits Saturday.

So there’s hope — especially if all you saw was the middle game of the series. In the other two, UH scored just one run, and it was a gift: walk, error, grounder, wild pitch.

“What you have is two teams,” said Jim Leahey, the veteran voice of UH sports who took over radio play-by-play duties for this season upon the retirement of Don Robbs.

The Rainbows are young. Maybe as they gain experience, that Saturday night version will show up more often.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.