HILO — It’s a good thing the Hawaii Stars brought their clobbering sticks and OPS utensils because those pesky first-place San Rafael Pacifics wouldn’t take the hint and fade quietly into the dark, windless night. HILO — It’s a good
HILO — It’s a good thing the Hawaii Stars brought their clobbering sticks and OPS utensils because those pesky first-place San Rafael Pacifics wouldn’t take the hint and fade quietly into the dark, windless night.
Showing a new-found propensity to score often and with seemingly abundant ease, at least on Saturday night, the Stars tenderized and pounded the Pacifics 14-6 in a North American Baseball League game at Wong Stadium.
The Stars (21-20) and Pacifics (26-15) play the final game of a six-game series at 1:35 p.m. today at Wong. Paul Jinkens (3-1, 4.82 ERA) is scheduled to start for Hawaii. It is kids’ day at the park with free admission for youngsters 12 years old and under. The Stars will also give away autographed bats and balls.
If hitting is indeed contagious, then almost everyone on the Stars had hitting fever and fattened their stats against a porous collection of four San Rafael pitchers, who got bombarded for 14 hits, including five of the extra-base variety.
Anthony Lopez enjoyed himself. He went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Arnoldo Ponce had fun, too. He was 3-for-4. Keoni Manago and Jason Thomas each batted 2-for-5 with two RBIs, beefing up their stats.
Hawaii’s hitting didn’t stop there. New leadoff man Matt Hibbert went 2-for-4. Reece Alnas was 1-for-5 with three RBIs. Everyone got a hit, except Anthony Williams, who went 0-for-3 but walked twice.
In the third, the Stars gave good lickings to Pacifics starter Michael Hebert, a seventh-round draft pick of the New York Mets in 2008, out of Sagus (Calif.) High, slamming three extra basehits, including a pair of RBI triples, for a four-run rally.
Hibbert started the festivities with a lead-off walk. Then Manago clocked a 3-2 fastball for a screaming RBI double, immediately putting himself into scoring position. He and Ponce, who walked, scored on Lopez’ run-scoring triple. Thomas followed with another first-pitch RBI triple to the right-field corner.
Meanwhile, in the early innings Stars starter Steve Raburn (3-1, 4.64) did his best Tom Seaver impersonation, ringing up five straight strikeouts after Darrick Hale’s lead-off single. Henry Calderon, the No. 7 batter, stopped the string with a flyout in the second inning.
Seaver, the Hall of Fame right-hander then with the New York Mets, holds the MLB record for consecutive strikeouts with 10, set against the San Diego Padres in 1970, a year after the Amazin’ Mets won the World Series.
Pacifics 000 013 020 — 6 9 3
Stars 104 025 02x — 14 14 3
