The team that gave Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso high expectations for this year finally made an appearance on Sunday.
For the first time since the second game of the season, Hawaii had its full complement of players on the field at the same time, and it clearly made a difference.
|
12
HAWAII
1
NMSU
KEY: Six starters had two hits each for the Rainbow Warriors.
NEXT: UH at Loyola Marymount, 3 p.m. Wednesday
|
Second baseman Stephen Ventimilia, who missed the last 13 games with a knee injury, ripped the first pitch thrown by New Mexico State into left field and it was all Hawaii from that point on in a 12-1 drubbing of the Aggies at Les Murakami Stadium.
Six different starters had two hits for the Rainbow Warriors (9-15), who answered the challenge Trapasso handed down following Saturday night’s 6-3 defeat.
It began with Ventimilia, who texted his coach four hours before game time saying he wanted to be in the lineup.
He was greeted with an extended cheer from the crowd of 1,552 when he walked to the plate in the bottom of the first.
"After (Saturday) night, coach Trap said somebody needs to step up and I felt that it was time for me to come back," said Ventimilia, who was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and scored a run. "I wasn’t 100 percent but I gave it all I had today and hopefully I’ll be able to get better these next few days."
Marcus Doi, who sat out 16 games with a groin injury, posted his first multihit game and J.J. Kitaoka had a career-high four RBIs for UH, which scored in five of the eight innings it came to bat.
Senior Jarrett Arakawa (1-0) pitched five scoreless innings for the second straight weekend and allowed only one hit.
Reliever Matt Valencia struck out a season-high six in three shutout innings of relief and Eric Ramirez singled twice and scored three times. UH didn’t commit an error for just the second time in the last 10 games.
"We came into this season with optimism and expectations because we saw what that lineup today and what a healthy Jarrett can do for us," Trapasso said. "Now we need to ride that and then go from there, but it was great to see those guys all out there today for the first time in forever."
Arakawa got extended to 72 pitches through five innings. He wasn’t as efficient as he was in a 52-pitch effort last week against Oklahoma, but the results were even better.
The only hit allowed was a two-out single in the first and he recorded 13 of his 15 outs either by strikeout or ground ball.
"It wasn’t me or anyone in particular today, it was a team win," Arakawa said. "(My shoulder) doesn’t feel 100 percent but if it feels good enough, I want to go, and when I do, I expect myself to get the job done as would anyone else."
Since returning to the rotation two weeks ago, Arakawa has posted a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings and allowed a meager five hits.
The combination of Arakawa, L.J. Brewster and Tyler Brashears, who will be the likely rotation in Big West play, allowed one earned run in 18 1/3 innings against the Aggies. Together, they have a combined 1.73 ERA.
"Jarrett has the toughness and the competitiveness and a great feel for the craft — and maturity — and he shows what you can do with the baseball as a pitcher when you have those things," Trapasso said.
UH also got an encouraging outing from Valencia on the heels of a solid performance on Saturday by right-hander Josh Pigg.
The bullpen has been a problem this season, but both Pigg and Valencia made good strides this weekend, combing to throw 62/3 scoreless innings with no walks.
It was feared that Pigg may have broken his hand Saturday, but an X-ray revealed only a severe bruise.
"We’ve worked this week on getting better and Piggy getting an opportunity to get more extended and throw some more innings made it better," Trapasso said. "We only had a three-run lead, which we’ve had a hard time protecting, with Valencia in and he put up a good inning and then got two more zero’s and gave us a chance to put up some more runs."
UH has a nonconference game on Wednesday at Loyola Marymount before opening Big West play on Friday at UC Irvine. The Anteaters are 6-0 against UH in conference play.
HAWAII 12, NEW MEXICO STATE 1
| NMSU |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Hawaii |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Duran 2b |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ventimilia 2b |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| Mack cf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Baldwin rf |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Koerper rf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Aliviado cf |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Barrientos ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ramirez 1b |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
| Paulson 1b |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Doi lf |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
| Hasbrock 1b |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
LoCoco pr |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Sheeley lf |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Richartz dh |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
| Haskins dh |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Pollakov c |
4 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Martinez c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Kitaoka 3b |
4 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
| Graf 3b |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Shldn-Cllns ss |
5 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Umphres ph |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Kennon ss |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Totals |
32 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
Totals |
34 |
12 |
12 |
10 |
| NEW MEXICO St. (4-17-1) |
000 |
000 |
001 |
– |
1 |
7 |
5 |
| HAWAII (9-15) |
100 |
202 |
43x |
— |
12 |
12 |
0 |
E–Graf 2, Duran, Hasbrouck, Rutherford. DP–New Mexico State 1, Hawaii 1. LOB–New Mexico State 9, Hawaii 9. 2B–Mack, Paulson, Hasbrouck, Ventimilia, Kitaoka. HBP–Graf. SH–Baldwin, Richartz. SF–Sheeley, Ventimilia, Kitaoka.
| NEW MEXICO STATE |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Higginbotham (L, 0-3) |
32/3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
| Rutherford |
11/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Herendeen |
1/3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
| Stein |
2/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Kraft |
2/3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
| Moriarty |
2/3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
| Freeman |
2/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Arakawa (W, 1-0) |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| Valencia |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
| Chew |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
WP–Moriarty, Valencia. HBP–by Arakawa (Graf). PB–Pollakov. Umpires–(Plate): Anthony Norris. (First): Ryan Bleiberg. (Third): Allen Williams. T–3:05. A–1,552.
