Shane cashes in: 3 years, $22 million

By Fred Guzman

MauiNow.com

Going into the arbitration process, Shane Victorino, who earned slightly more than $3.1 million last season, was assured of a big pay raise for the coming baseball season.

The Phillies were offering their All-Star and Gold Glove center fielder from Maui $4.75 million. Victorino was seeking $5.8 million. As things turned out, Victorino will go from rich to richer after reportedly reaching agreement on a three-year deal that will pay him $22 million over the life of the contract.

Shane was coming off a strong season with the two-time defending National League champs, hitting a team-high .292 with 39 doubles, 13 triples, 10 home runs, 62 RBIs and 25 steals He also won a second straight Gold Glove and was voted to the NL All-Star team.

UH ROUNDUP: Things didn’t end as well for Hawaii hoops star Roderick Flemings on his 23rd birthday. Flemings had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Bows last night, but New Mexico State stormed back from a 40-28 halftime deficit to hand Hawaii a heart-breaking 71-69 loss at the Stan Sheriff Center. Jahmar Young spoiled the apparent victory party for Flemings by hitting an 18-foot jumper with 0.9 seconds left. Young finished with 26 points as the Aggies improved to 12-7 overall and 5-1 in the WAC. UH fell to 9-10 overall and 2-4 in conference going into Saturday’s home game against LaTech, which suffered its first WAC loss in an 87-76 defeat at San Jose State.

The Rainbow Wahine rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit last night, pulling to within 10 at one point, only to suffer a 75-62 road loss to Louisiana Tech. Junior Allie Patterson come off the bench to lead UH with 18 points as the Bows dropped to 8-11 overall and 2-4 in the WAC going into Saturday’s game at Boise State.

PREP ROUNDUP: Seabury Hall remained in contention for the MIL boy’s soccer title with a 2-0 victory over Maui High. … In basketball, the Maui High girls rallied to a 44-41 win over King Kekaulike while the Sabers’ boys beat Kekaulike 39-36.