On the first day of the Major League Baseball season, the University of Hawaii team — more than midway through its schedule — lost 4-0 to UC Davis in what amounted to little more than a spring training game.
In the press box at Murakami Stadium, some of us paid more attention to the TV; the Rainbows’ gift to the St. Louis Cardinals, Kolten Wong, scored the second run of the season and his team beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0.
The Sunday loss for Wong’s alma mater was no big deal, as the ‘Bows had already beaten the Aggies in the games they needed to, the first three of the series. And did so soundly.
The Easter Sunday friendly didn’t count in the Big West conference standings. We could say the Rainbow Warriors played like it, but that would only be half right.
The shutout is a bit misleading, as Hawaii generally stung the ball pretty well … even while grounding into double plays. A few feet either way and just maybe UH hits the road with a four-game winning streak.
Defensively it was a different story; although first baseman Eric Ramirez and catcher Alan Baldwin each made a spectacular play, UH committed four errors.
"Yeah, I think we were all a little bit more relaxed today," coach Mike Trapasso said, when asked if he might have argued a botched balls-and-strikes situation more vociferously and gotten himself tossed if this game had counted in the league standings.
The main thing is the Rainbows are back at even in the Big West at 3-3. And there is some reason for optimism as UH hit over .300 as a team in the four-game set and the front-line pitching was solid.
The Aggies came in with seven wins in a row; they leave tied with UH in the middle of the pack in the conference after salvaging some pride Sunday and making the flight home a little less painful.
UH senior center fielder Kaeo Aliviado — the baseball program’s version of Chad Owens for his pound-for-pound explosiveness and ability to change games — hit the ball hard three times. But two of those were a line drive right at the third baseman and a double play.
"We wanted to come in with the same attitude and same swag, but their pitcher (Max Cordy) did a great job," Aliviado said. "And we hit it right at ’em and the ball didn’t bounce our way today."
The nonconference game created a weird vibe, and a situation where UH could say it still had momentum after a loss.
"Definitely," Aliviado said. "This was a great weekend for us, a confidence booster. Something we can build off of, going to Cal Poly on the road."
At the very least, we know after this weekend that what Trapasso has been saying all season is true — this UH baseball team is much improved after two poor seasons.
Of course, that isn’t going too far out on a limb and the Rainbows need to develop consistency if they are to continue to compete in the Big West, even during an off year overall for the conference.
Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his "Quick Reads" blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.
