If it is true everyone has a twin, the University of Hawaii baseball team will face its doppelganger in this weekend’s Big West series at Les Murakami Stadium.
UH and UC Irvine place a priority on pitching, opportunistic at-bats and the lessons of legendary coach Mike Gillespie.
Gillespie, who died at age 80 in 2020, served as a mentor to head coaches Rich Hill of the Rainbow Warriors and Ben Orloff of the Anteaters. Gillespie won 1,156 games at USC and UC Irvine, with an approach of hard work and preparing for the unpredictable.
“He’s on the shortest of lists of best college coaches in the history of our sport,” said Orloff, a former UCI player and associate coach who was promoted following Gillespie’s retirement in 2018. “He had a giant impact on me. I don’t have the job I have now if it weren’t for him.”
True to Gillespie’s style, the Orloff-led Anteaters built a 13-7 record — 3-0 in the Big West — because of effective pitching. The Anteaters’ per-nine-inning ratio is 9.4 strikeouts to 3.4 walks. They are 7-2 in one-run games.
Michael Frias, who will start tonight, and Nick Pinto entered as 1-2 in the rotation. Both have been subpar, by their standards. Frias is 3-1 with a 4.85 ERA, but is averaging 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Pinto is 0-2 with a 4.18 ERA and close to 10 strikeouts per nine innings.
“They’ve been OK — not as good as they were last year, not as good as they can be,” Orloff said.
Freshman Danny Suarez has been the Sunday starter this season. Excluding a seven-run inning against Iowa, his ERA is 3.05.
Orloff and pitching coach Daniel Bibona have developed a reliable bullpen. Gordon Ingebritson is 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 0.50 WHIP. He has averaged 2 2/3 innings in his nine appearances. “Ingebritson is the guy we can uses in a bunch of different types of roles and multiple innings,” Orloff said.
Jacob King, last year’s closer, is back on track after overcoming shoulder tightness. In six games this month, Troy Taylor has a 1.86 ERA and averages 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
Orloff acknowledged the Anteaters have struggled at the plate with a .250 average. “I think we’re capable of being a better offensive team than we’ve been thus far,” Orloff said.
Right fielder Nate Church has regained the form that made him one of the league’s best hitters last year. Church suffered a wrist injury in October that shut down his training in the fall. “The last two weeks, it’s the best he’s been,” Orloff said of Church, who is hitting .438 (14-for-32) during that span.
Matt Wong, Church’s counterpart, has hit a home run in each of the past two games. In the first 12 games, Wong hit .238. Since then, he is 11-for-28 to raise his average to .300.
“It’s plate discipline with Matt,” Hill said. “He knows they’re trying to get him out with spin away and then come inside with the pitches.”
Hill said Wong has been able to resist chasing pitches in the dirt or wide of the strike zone, and attack fastballs and hanging curves. “(Wong) and Coach (Dave) Nakama have been working on those simple things for eight weeks, it seems like. … It’s all clicking in. It’s all credit to Matt and his buy-in, and being able to execute, and make those adjustments.”
Wong said he figured it would be an adjustment after healing from a 2020 knee injury that required surgery and led to a couple of setbacks. Last weekend’s series against Long Beach State were Wong’s first Big West games since joining the ’Bows in August 2019.
“I know being out of the game for a certain amount of time can get you out of your groove,” Wong said. “I knew it was going to take some time to get some things down, and get my groove back. I’m starting to feel better at the plate, better with my discipline. And I’m putting some good swings on the ball. As long as I keep working on it every day, just buying into what we have to do as an offensive approach, I think the success will keep happening.”
