Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
The run-up to the University of Hawaii’s hottest rivalry of the second and an obituary from Oregon rekindled reminiscences of one of many fiercest sequence in class historical past.
As the Rainbow Warrior volleyball staff ready for a extremely anticipated journey to Long Beach State final week, information broke of the passing of long-time San Diego State baseball coach and UH nemesis Jim Dietz at age 83.
The confluence of seemingly disparate occasions delivered to thoughts the rivalries which have spiced UH schedules in numerous sports activities over the a long time.
Most are fueled by conferences with championship implications. As such, the volleyball sequence between the Warriors and Beach arguably tops the energetic listing given their sequence of matches which have decided Big West or nationwide titles since 2017.
Boosted by a energetic crowd on the Walter Pyramid, Long Beach State swept this weekend’s two-match sequence with seven of the eight units tied within the 20s. A 3rd high-stakes assembly within the Big West event at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in mid-April would add one other layer to a rivalry that has established a spot amongst UH’s storied duels.
Of course, Brigham Young blue had a era of Hawaii followers seeing purple in nearly any exercise that stored rating and UH’s cathartic soccer victories in 1989, ’90 and ’92 and the 2001 blowout stay landmark moments for the athletic division.
The temperature in already steamy Klum Gym shot up when Pacific or Long Beach State visited for PCAA/Big West girls’s volleyball showdowns. Fresno State’s Chris Herren-led basketball groups antagonized the Rainbow Warriors within the Anthony Carter-Alika Smith period. Meetings with Fresno State have been circled on the UH softball schedule all through their tenures within the Big West and Western Athletic Conference.
In phrases of shared animus, the Hawaii-San Diego State baseball sequence of the Nineteen Eighties and into the early ’90s nonetheless holds a spot among the many most incendiary.
Led by legendary coaches and fierce adversaries in Dietz and Les Murakami, the ’Bows and Aztecs yearly battled for division or league titles as WAC powers together with BYU.
“It was a battle every game,” mentioned Markus Owens, UH’s beginning third baseman from 1985 to ’87 and now an analyst for Spectrum OC16’s highschool baseball telecasts.
“It was one of those rivalries that you just wanted to knock their block off, you wanted to beat them bad. Whether it was here or there it was always tough.”
While San Diego State’s visits turned up the amount in Rainbow Stadium, it was a catwalk past the right-field fence at SDSU’s Smith Field that really elevated the sequence.
“Raggers’ Rail” ran alongside neighboring Peterson Gym and have become a gathering place for SDSU followers to heckle (to place it mildly) opposing outfielders.
Owens doesn’t recall a variety of potty mouths among the many SDSU followers, however there was the time UH pitcher Mike Campbell went out to the bullpen to heat up earlier than his begin and located that somebody had, effectively, gone potty on his glove.
“It was not only a battle with the team when you went over there, it was a battle with the fans too,” Owens mentioned. “They were probably as rowdy as you could ever imagine.”
The creativeness of the denizens of Raggers’ Rail — who typically started (ahem) hydrating hours earlier than first pitch — impressed even the targets of their derision.
“They usually kept it pretty clean, nothing too foul, but what they came up with was so original that it was sometimes just hilarious,” Owens mentioned. “You’d have to stop and listen and just laugh.”
For a pivotal sequence in 1986, they even influenced lineup technique.
The Rainbows arrived at Smith Field needing to win one recreation within the four-game sequence to clinch the Western Division and the appropriate to host the WAC Tournament. Anticipating the abuse directed towards the appropriate fielder, Murakami assigned the obligation to Mark McWherter, shifiting him over from left area.
UH appeared poised to clinch the division within the sequence opener, taking a 6-1 lead within the fifth inning and defending a 7-4 cushion within the eighth. The Aztecs bought two runs again within the backside of the eighth, however UH closed to inside two outs of the division title when McWherter tracked down a drive within the hole within the ninth.
McWherter then turned towards Raggers’ Rail and confirmed off the ball in his glove.
“It was like 100,000 people started yelling after that,” Owens mentioned. “It was that loud.”
The Aztecs added to the frenzy by stringing collectively three hits, successful it 8-7 on Steve Montejano’s two-run single. SDSU went on to comb the sequence and swipe the host function for the event. They performed three extra instances the next week with San Diego State beating UH within the closing.
Owens did get in a closing phrase the next season, when he homered on senior day in Manoa. The 13-6 UH rout included 5-foot-4 senior shortstop Mark Rasmussen, who’d additionally felt the wrath of Raggers’ Rail in ’86, hitting the lone homer of his faculty profession. A couple of weeks later, the ’Bows savored one other rivalry win after they knocked off BYU within the WAC Tournament closing in Provo, Utah.
As he approached dwelling plate after his homer towards SDSU within the dwelling finale, Owens did the “Pee Wee Herman dance” on the behest of pitcher Paul Brown.
“That’s the last thing I remember about San Diego State as a player,” Owens mentioned.
“I got them last.”