Aloha BaseBulls

[Brad]

6 teams compete this week in Rainbow baseball tourney

Wichita State and Louisiana-Lafayette enter the event undefeated

By Al Chase

achase@starbulletin.com

The First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament starts a five-day run tomorrow at Les Murakami Stadium.

The field includes the Wichita State Shockers, the UC Davis Aggies, the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, the South Florida Bulls, the Sacramento State Hornets and host Hawaii.

The tournament format is round robin. The team with the best record will be champion.

The Shockers, who defeated Hawaii-Hilo 6-1 yesterday to sweep a five-game series, and the Ragin' Cajuns, who won their own Mardi Gras Ball Tournament with wins over Marist, Miami (Ohio) and Texas State this past weekend, are undefeated with 11-0 and 10-0 records, respectively.

One of those teams will lose the unbeaten designation after they meet in tomorrow's second game at 2:30 p.m.

"Wichita State is the best team in the country when (Mike) Pelfrey pitches," said Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso, who had Pelfrey on his USA Baseball pitching staff last summer.

The 6-foot-7 junior right-hander is 23-4 at WSU and 2-0 with an 0.90 earned-run average this year.

The Shockers have a .325 team batting average and the pitchers have a combined 2.16 ERA.

The Hornets, who join the Western Athletic Conference for baseball next year, are 5-6-1 after winning three and tying the final game (halted by darkness) against North Dakota State over the weekend. They open against the Rainbows (7-5) tomorrow night.

The Aggies (6-6) of the Big West Conference won two of three games from Portland before heading to Hawaii. Daniel Descalso leads the hitters with a .388 average and 14 RBIs. Senior right-hander Dave McKae (3-1) has half of the Aggies' wins and a 1.66 ERA.

The Bulls (8-5), who play UC Davis tomorrow, are coming off a good weekend, taking three games from Jacksonville. Jeff Baisley, with a .404 batting average and 19 RBIs, is the top hitter. Freshman right-hander Daniel Thomas brings a 3-1 record to town.

The Rainbows (7-5) are still looking for their identity.

"We have a tournament to play this week. We need to find out which team is going to show up, the Saturday team or the Sunday team," Trapasso said. "We have to play better."

Hawaii has won the last two tournaments.

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First Hawaii Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament

When: Tomorrow through Saturday.

Where: Les Murakami Stadium.

TV: Tomorrow's UH game only, live, KFVE, Channel 5

Radio: Tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday, UH games live, KKEA, 1420-AM

Tickets: $6 orange and blue sections; $5 red section; $4 seniors, and $3 students age 4-18, UH students in the red section.

Parking: $3

Schedule

Tomorrow: UC Davis vs. South Florida, 10:30 a.m.; Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Wichita State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Sacramento State, 6:35 p.m.

Wednesday: South Florida vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 10:30 a.m.; Wichita State vs. Sacramento State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. UC Davis, 6:35 p.m.

Thursday: Sacramento State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 10:30 a.m.; Wichita State vs. UC Davis, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. South Florida, 6:35 p.m.

Friday: Sacramento State vs. South Florida, 10:30 a.m.; Louisiana-Lafayette vs. UC Davis, 2:35 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Wichita State, 6:35 p.m.

Saturday: UC Davis vs. Sacramento State, 10:30 a.m.; South Florida vs. Wichita State, 2:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 6:35 p.m.

Link

[Guest bullman33]

I predict a 2-3 showing at best.

[CoralSpringsBull]

Wichita State should win the tournament. But, GO BULLS!!

[USFMikeB]

I wonder if MarkeyMark knows about this.  I'm sure the BaseBulls would enjoy having at least one fan in the stands...

[Markeymark]

I'm going to try & take some pictures for the board if I can make it out there...I'm pretty sure I can make it to the Hawaii and Wichita St games. Stay tuned.

[Guest S.  Bien]

I'm going to try & take some pictures for the board if I can make it out there...I'm pretty sure I can make it to the Hawaii and Wichita St games. Stay tuned.

Lucky guy.  Hawaii, and Bulls baseball.  Seeing Bulls jersey's in paradise you probably think you died and went to heaven.

have fun with it,  USF doesn't get to Hawaii often, and hope to see some pictures.

[Brad]

Baseball Luau

By John Calkins

Asst. Sports Editor

March 01, 2005

It may look like a vacation, but the Bulls will have plenty of work to do in Hawaii this week.

One of six teams invited to the Rainbow Baseball Tournament in Honolulu, the USF baseball team will play five games in four days in the Aloha state.

Today, the Bulls face UC Davis (6-6) at 4:30 EST.

USF will then play a game on Wednesday, two on Friday and finish play on Saturday.

USF has never faced UC Davis, which is led offensively by infielder Daniel Descalso. The freshman is leading his team in batting average (.388), RBI (14), hits (19) and has the team's only home run of the season.

The Bulls won't have all day to relax on the beach, because they will have to face UC Davis pitcher Dave McKae. In 21 innings pitched this season, McKae (3-1) has struck out 21 batters and has an ERA of 1.66.

And if Cardieri decides to throw freshman Casey Hudspeth, expect a pitcher's duel. Hudspeth (2-0) is coming off a dominating performance against Jacksonville in which he struck out nine without a walk.

USF's opponent Wednesday, Louisiana-Lafayette (10-0), should be the Bulls' toughest challenge. Ranked No. 21 in Baseball America's most recent poll, Louisiana-Lafayette is undefeated and the only ranked team in the tournament.

Story Link

[USFMikeB]

Wasn't Hudspeth a freshman last year?

[Guest bullman33]

Speaking of $20,000, how much will this trip cost the University?  I have never seen an airfare from tampa to hawaii for less then $750.  So $750 x 20 = $15,000 + hotel for six nights at $75-100.  $75-100 x 12 rooms = 1,000.  Throw in bus transportation, meals and misc and you are up to $20,000.   We could have played 5 meaningless games, which those games in Hawaiii are,  around the state of Florida for a lot less.  

[mutt]

Lucky guy.  Hawaii, and Bulls baseball.  Seeing Bulls jersey's in paradise you probably think you died and went to heaven.

 

I can't even picture it without getting misty myself.

;D