By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Ronnie Loeffler made his hometown debut start for the Hawaii Stars a memorable one, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Sonoma County Grapes in the first North American Baseball League game at Wong Stadium.
It was Hilo’s first taste of professional baseball since the Hilo Stars of the Hawaii Winter Baseball League closed shop after the 1997 season. The Hilo Stars featured several future major leaguers, including Ichiro Suzuki, R.A. Dickey and Adam Kennedy.
NABL is independent ball, but it was edge-of-the-seat excitement, courtesy of Loeffler’s pitching prowess in Hawaii’s 3-0 victory over the Sonoma County Grapes on Tuesday night before a crowd of 745 fans in the first set of a six-game series.
The Stars (5-2) and Grapes (3-4) will play at 5:35 p.m. today at Wong Stadium. The game is also streamed live at hawaiistarsprobaseball.com.
Loeffler (2-0) lost his no-hitter with one out in the sixth inning when No. 9 hitter Mark Micowski dunked a first-pitch soft single into right field. The former UH-Hilo pitcher and 2004 Waiakea graduate got a strikeout and groundout to close the inning.
“It was super fun and nice to see all my ex-teammates, friends and family. It was good support,” said Loeffler, who got the old college, “Let’s go Ronnie” chant in the sixth and seventh innings. “The same thing happened on Maui. I had a no-hitter and lost it in the sixth inning with one out. There’s something about the sixth inning, I guess.
“My stuff was good. I just learned a slider and threw a couple on Maui. I relied on that tonight and pitched to contact. I threw strikes because I know my guys will be there and get outs.”
Hawaii center fielder Matt Hibbert made a pair of nice catches. In the third, Buyuan Maeda smoked a shot that looked like it was going over Hibbert’s head, but he took a couple steps back, jumped and recorded the out. In the fourth, Hibbert showed off his range, running down Fred Atkins’ rocket blast that seemed destined to find a gap.
Also, pitching at sea level helped. Grapes’ cleanup Joe Lewis, who’s a good 6-foot-4 block of muscle, took a Mighty Casey swing and cranked a deep flyball to center that screamed 1-0 second-inning Sonoma County lead. But Hibbert raced to the warning track and got the putout.
Loeffler received some healthy run support when the Stars rallied for three runs on three hits and one error in the bottom of the sixth inning off Sonoma County starter Shane Cadaret.
Hibbert, the leadoff hitter, reached on an error, stole second and scored on No. 3 batter Jose Sanchez’ RBI single to right field. The next batter, Adam Jacobs, reached on an infield single.
Then Sanchez scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead, and Anthony Lopez worked a good hitter’s 2-1 count against Cadaret before drilling a run-scoring single to right to pad the lead.
Loeffler’s last inning was the seventh, pitching against the heart of the Grapes’ lineup — the Nos. 3-5 hitters. He allowed a single to DJ Dixon, who was erased on a double play. Then Loeffler struck out Brandon Gregorich.
In seven innings, Loeffler allowed two singles, one walk and struck out six, throwing 67 pitches, including a nice percentage (73 percent) of strikes, 49 in all.
Cortney Arruda, a Hilo High product, earned the save with two scoreless innings, receiving defensive help from another local product, 2007 Kamehameha graduate Reece Alnas, in the eighth inning.
“It was a great crowd. Ronnie and me were a little nervous. He wanted to do good and he did,” Arruda said. “I felt great pitching in front of everyone, especially the hometown fans.”
In the eighth with one out, pinch hitter Michael Johnson singled and tried to go from first to third on Maeda’s double, but left fielder Alnas gunned down Johnson at third base. Then Arruda struck out Micowski, the Grape who broke up the no-hitter, to end the inning.
He got two quick outs in the ninth, walked Dixon, then struck out Lewis. In two innings, Arruda allowed two hits, one walk, and struck out two.
Sanchez batted 2 for 4 with an RBI and Lopez was 1 for 3 with an RBI to lead the running Stars, who were 3 for 3 in steal attempts. Alnas was 0 for 3.
Cadaret, who took the loss, had a shutout heading into the sixth when his outing spun out of control. In 5 1/3 innings, he allowed three runs, one unearned, on four hits and one walk and whiffed three. Jeff Lyons and Nick Alexander pitched the final 3 2/3 innings.
Grapes 000 000 000 — 0 4 1
Stars 000 003 00x — 3 7 0