As the Hawaii baseball team developed roles and a personality, coach Rich Hill always teased: “All will be revealed.”
With Itsuki Takemoto, Liam O’Brien and Cooper Walls forming an effective starting rotation, Hill has amended his perspective.
“There’s another old saying: So far, so good,” Hill said.
In his first three UH seasons, Hill flip-flopped the first two starting pitchers while usually naming “TBD” — to be determined — for the third slot. But in the past five games against Big West opponents, the Rainbow Warriors’ starting pitchers have a collective 2.02 ERA and 1.05 WHIP while averaging 8.44 strikeouts per nine innings.
“Hey, they’ve done great,” Hill said. “Our weekend rotation is set. I feel the starting pitching is a strength of ours. Itsuki’s really coming into his own. So is Liam. Cooper had his coming-out party, I believe, on Sunday. … The rotation has really started to jell.”
This week’s three-game series at Les Murakami Stadium begins Saturday, a day later than the usual opening, because of UC Davis’ final-exam schedule. The Aggies are scheduled to arrive today. “We can’t stay on the Friday-Sunday schedule because of our classes,” UCD coach Tommy Nicholson said. “We leave on the last day of finals. At least it’s only one day.”
Takemoto has moved into the series-opening slot after being used as the No. 2 starter behind Sebastian Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who has endured nagging ailments, now has the role of long reliever and spot starter. In his past two starts, Takemoto has allowed three earned runs in 112⁄3 innings. After starting last Friday against then-15th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, Takemoto went 4-for-8, smacked his first UH home run and drove in four runs as the designated hitter.
Since becoming a starter, O’Brien has accumulated a 1.33 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in four games.
Walls, a freshman, threw seven shutout innings against UCSB last Sunday to earn the Big West’s Pitcher of the Week Award. “I feel the first couple outings I was nervous,” Walls said. “But settling in nicely. Just going back to my roots.”
O’Brien and Walls have adhered to pitching coach Keith Zuniga’s mandate of throwing only what works. In tabling his forkball, O’Brien has relied mostly on the 1-2 combo of a fastball that has touched 98 mph and mid-80s curveball. Against UCSB, Walls pared his repertoire to fastballs, curves and sliders.
“I didn’t really have (an effective changeup) that day,” Walls said. “I stuck with the pitches that worked for me, and it worked out.”
The three have averaged 79.6 pitches in the past five starts.
The Aggies also are riding a three-pitcher rotation of Noel Valdez (2-1, 3.46 ERA), Tyler Wood (2-0, 3.18) and Bryan Green (1-1, 2.70).
“They’re not going to overpower you or wow you with their stuff,” Nicholson said. “We’re certainly not going to roll in there like Santa Barbara did last weekend and have guys throw in the mid-90s. But they’re certainly capable of pounding the strike zone and throwing multiple pitches for strikes and letting their defense play behind them.”
Nicholson said Valdez is a strike-thrower (17 strikeouts against nine walks in 26 innings) who is confident to “throw any pitch in any count. His changeup is good. He’s got a slider. He really competes.”
Wood throws a mix of two- and four-seam fastballs, a slider and changeup. “He goes right after hitters,” Nicholson said. “He gives us a chance to win every time out.”
The Aggies had anticipated losing the left-handed Green to the Major League Baseball draft last summer. Green, who missed his final three starts of 2024 because of forearm tightness, was not selected.
“We’re excited to have him back,” Nicholson said. “He’s been really good. He’s been pitching on Fridays for us every weekend. He’s been up and down this year. Even when he’s not great, he definitely limits hard contact and keeps us in games.”
