Day 13: Sunday, June 6
12:00 p.m. - After the tough loss to a very good Arizona State team last night, the Rainbows have a quick turnaround, playing San Diego at 1 p.m. Besides how tough it is to play on short rest, the game will be even tougher for the 'Bows as the expected temperature for the game is 110 degrees. And I think everyone in the travel party is sick of hearing the phrase, "Yeah, but it's a dry heat." Dry or wet, 110 degrees is hot!
If UH is able to beat the Toreros in the first game, it'll be very taxing on the body to play two games in this heat. But as
Mike Trapasso said in the post-game press conference last night, "We just hope we have to deal with that problem. I'd much rather be here in the heat than at home in air conditioning."
Day 11: Friday, June 4
7:00 p.m. - Another exciting win for the Rainbows, who keep finding a way to score runs in the late innings.
Pi'ikea Kitamura found a new way today, getting hit by a pitch on his helmet to bring in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning. UH will now face the winner of Arizona State and Milwaukee tomorrow night at 7 p.m. (4 p.m. HST).
Another interesting note that came during the game was that the home run by
David Freitas in the sixth inning was just the 25th ever to clear the "green monster" in centerfield, a big hitter's eye behind the fence. Other notable players who are part of the 25 players to accomplish this feat are Barry Bonds, Brett Wallace and Ike Davis.
2:00 p.m. - The NCAA Regional opener for the 'Bows is just about to start. The first thing that most people noticed when the players from both teams took off their caps for the playing of the national anthem was that the players for both teams had interesting hairstyles. The Rainbows are sporting their mohawks, or 'Bowhawks, a term coined by
Lenny Linsky. The Toreros, on the other hand, have all bleached blond hair, while USD's two players from Hawai'i, Kalei Hanawahine and Zack Kometani, have a combination with blond mohawks. I guess today's battle will be the mohawks vs. blondies.
Oh, and by the way, the gametime temperature is 103 degrees.
Day 10: Thursday, June 3
2:00 p.m. - The Rainbows practiced on Bobby Winkles Field at Packard Stadium at Jim Brock Ballpark on the campus of Arizona State University. Wow, that's a mouth full. But I guess with playing an NCAA Regional at a place with this much baseball tradition, it is to be expected.
Right as you walk in they have a couple of great collages of some of their famous former players. Names like Bob Horner, Reggie Jackson, Alvin Davis, Barry Bonds, Dustin Pedroia, Andre Ethier, Ike Davis, Brett Wallace and Mike Leake jump out at you right away. Even though it isn't the Rainbows first time here, in fact will be the third time playing here in the last four years, it's still awesome to see.
UH started practice with a good BP session. Many balls were flying out of the stadium from many different batters. They then took infield practice to end their NCAA-mandated one and a half hour practice.
Oh, and of course everyone watched and cheered along our Rainbow Wahine before leaving for practice today. It worked out perfectly as Trisha Yoshikawa hit her two-run home run in the seventh inning about 30 minutes before the bus left. Hopefully the wins of the Rainbow Wahine will again help push more wins for the Rainbows. Maybe it's the power of the ti leaves.
Day 9: Wednesday, June 2
5:30 p.m. - The Rainbows had their "travel day" yesterday as the team loaded up the bus for a 15-minute bus ride from the hotel in Mesa to their new hotel in Tempe. The team is staying just a couple blocks away from the Arizona State campus and just one street over from the famous Mill Ave. district.
UH practiced on the practice fields at Hohokam Stadium the past couple of days, having a couple of short practices each day. They will have their official NCAA practice at Packard Stadium tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Today the players returned from practice just in time to see the final inning of the Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Indians game. Everyone was in utter disbelief to see Armando Galarraga's perfect game bid end after 8.2 innings on a highly-disputed call by the first base umpire.
Day 7: Monday, May 31
12:30 p.m. - After celebrating the first WAC Tournament title since 1992, the Rainbows all woke up this morning to get some breakfast before watching the selection show on ESPN. The team met in the hotel atrium to watch the show and saw their tournament seed come up right away, as they were put in top-seed Arizona State's regional.
The positive thing is that there is no need to travel, except for the 15 minute drive from Mesa to Tempe. But awaiting them are a couple of top 20 teams in the regional round. UH's first opponent, San Diego, is ranked No. 19 in this week's
Collgiate Baseball poll. Arizona State is No. 1. Hopefully the team's magic in the desert continues.
Day 6: Sunday, May 30
6:30 p.m. - What a day for University of Hawai'i athletics. The results of softball super regional were read over the PA just before the Rainbows went up to bat in the bottom of the first. Maybe that gave a little extra boost for the Baseball 'Bows.
But the Rainbows win over Fresno State ended the Bulldogs' long stronghold on conference supremacy. Fresno State had won the tournament in each of the last four seasons.
Three Rainbows made the all-tournament team in
David Freitas,
Collin Bennett and
Kolten Wong. Wong was also named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while Bennett broke the tournament record for both hits (13) and doubles (eight). UH hit .379 as a team, scoring 46 runs with five homers, two triples and 11 doubles. Hawai'i also turned 11 double plays in the tournament.
The team will all wake up tomorrow morning and have breakfast before watching the selection show in the hotel atrium at 9:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. HST). Many of the players think we'll either stay in Arizona and play at Arizona State or go to UCLA or Cal State Fullerton.
Day 5: Saturday, May 29
2:30 p.m. - Even though the Rainbows won their biggest game of the season last night, beating Fresno State 11-3 to advance to the WAC Tournament Championship round, the talk at breakfast this morning had little to do with the happenings at Hohokam Stadium. Instead, most of the Hawai'i contingent had their mind on the Rainbow Wahine in the NCAA Softball Super Regional in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
A large group of players, coaches, staff and parents made their way down to the hotel bar, which was the only place where we could watch ESPNU. Loud roars filled the Mesa Hilton when
Kelly Majam and
Jessica Iwata hit their big home runs, and then again when
Stephanie Ricketts got the final Tide batter to pop up to end the game. Hopefully this will give the 'Bows some extra motivation to take their own WAC Championship tonight.
Day 4: Friday, May 28
11:30 p.m. - The Rainbows defeated Fresno State 11-3 to advance to the WAC Tournament Championship round. They will play the winner of Fresno State and San Jose State, just needing to win one of two games against that team. The Rainbows are hitting .400 as a team in the tournament, including a .600 batting average with five doubles and six runs by
Collin Bennett, .545 by
Greg Garcia, .538 with three homers, eight RBI and seven runs by
Kolten Wong and .500 by
Sean Montplaisir. Wong is hitting the ball so well that he has also been intentionally walked twice in the last two games.
8:30 p.m. - UH's third game of the tournament is just underway. The Rainbows face top-seed and four-time tournament champion Fresno State in the winner's bracket, with the winner of this game putting themselves in good position to win the tournament. The winner will advance to the championship round with two opportunities to take the title. This is the 'Bows' first night game of the tournament, but the gametime temperature was still 90 degrees.
Day 3: Thursday, May 27
9:00 p.m. - The Rainbows score 13 runs on 19 hits to beat New Mexico State on the second game of the tournament. They will play the winner of the San Jose State-Fresno State game that is currently going on. Below are some pictures taken by WAC photographer Jeffrey Lowman, showing the teams' mohawks.
New Mexico State will play Nevada in the first elimination game tomorrow at 11 a.m. (8 a.m. HST). The winner of that game will play the loser of the Fresno State-San Jose State game at 4 p.m. (1 p.m. HST), before the Rainbows play the winner of that game at 7:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. HST).
3:00 p.m. - On the way to the game, I noticed one of the last hold-outs was converted as senior member of the Rainbow baseball team,
Harrison Kuroda, caved in and went to the mohawk.
Day 2: Wednesday, May 26
After the banquet, the vast majority of the team went up to the room as cut their hair. All but two players are now sporting Mohawks, in a show of team solidarity.
