Hawaii’s 2014 baseball recruiting class took a hit in the 2013 MLB draft.
Since then, the Rainbow Warriors have picked up seven new oral commitments expecting to join the team in the fall.
UH has added five pitchers to its 2014 class, including four right-handers.
The two junior-college pitchers are 6-foot-4 righty Eric Gleese, who went 6-2 with a 2.44 ERA at Ohlone (Calif.) C.C., and southpaw Bryan Clough, who was 5-3 with a 3.78 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 782⁄3 innings at Santa Ana (Calif.) C.C.
They are joined by high schoolers Joey Caffese of Saint Mary’s (Calif.) High, Gordon Cardenas of Mira Costa (Calif.) High and Marc Vela of San Dieguito (Calif.) Academy.
Caffese, listed at 5 feet 11, was originally a Cal Poly commit before switching to UH. He went 10-4 with a 1.97 ERA as a senior and struck out 88 in 672⁄3 innings.
Cardenas, who is 5-10, went 8-3 with a 1.57 ERA in 621⁄3 innings for Mira Costa, which won the Bay League championship and reached the CIF Southern Section Division III final.
Vela, who is 6-4, went 9-1 with a 0.99 ERA and struck out 77 in 78 innings.
UH has also gotten commitments from Konawaena middle infielder Jarrett Kitaoka and Bellevue (Wash.) C.C. outfielder Jordan Richartz.
Richartz was named to the Pacific Association Division All-America second team and finished fourth in the conference with a .390 batting average. He had 19 doubles and stole 24 bases without getting caught.
He was a two-time All-Kingco 3A outfielder at Mercer Island High.
The commitments fill a hole left by the 2013 MLB draft that has poached four potential UH players.
Infielder Kean Wong, first basemen Jake Bauers and David Denson and left-hander Blake Taylor, who all committed to UH, have signed and already started their professional careers.
Baseball America listed the signing bonuses as $750,000 for Taylor, $391,000 for Wong and $240,000 for Bauers.
Denson, a 15th-round pick of the Brewers, signed recently for an undisclosed amount.
Catcher Iolana Akau and outfielder Marcus Doi, two other UH commits who were drafted, have until the 11 a.m. deadline on July 12 to sign.
Akau rejected the most recent offer from the Athletics, according to his father, Kiha.
"We’ve still got 10 days left," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said Tuesday. "It really is one of those situations where you don’t know until after that deadline is over what you’ve got, but that’s why we’ve been out actively recruiting."
Trapasso hasn’t hired a hitting coach yet to replace longtime assistant Chad Konishi, but a decision could be made by the end of the month.
