The University of Hawaii baseball team has low expectations for a three-game Big West series that opens today at UC Riverside.
The past weekend, Cal Poly feasted on UH pitches left high in the strike zone for a combined 22 runs on 36 hits in consecutive blowouts.
“Any time you lose a couple games in a row, it’s always back to basics: keep the ball down in the zone and field the routine ground ball,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said.
Trapasso announced his pitching order as Brendan Hornung today, Dominic DeMiero on Friday, and Neil Uskali on Saturday. All three have 4-2 records.
Hornung has relied on a four-pitch repertoire, including a split-fingered fastball as an out pitch. “He just pounds the zone and mixes pitches,” Trapasso said. “It’s what he’s been doing all year.”
On Saturday, Dominic DeMiero was battered for eight hits in 21⁄3 innings, his shortest outing during his initial UH season. “He just didn’t have any command down in the zone,” Trapasso said. “Everything was up.”
Uskali earned the third spot over Jackson Rees, who will be used in middle relief this weekend. Trapasso said Uskali has pitched well the past two weeks despite being inconsistent with his best pitch, the change-up, last Sunday.
“You’re not going to have feel for all your pitches every time out,” said Trapasso, noting in the past outing Uskali “didn’t have a good rhythm. He was a little bit out of sync. His fastball was up in the zone and he didn’t have a feel for the changeup. Neil’s most effective when he’s able to throw the changeup, even when he’s behind in the count.”
Against Cal Poly, the ’Bows, particularly shortstop Dustin Demeter, had difficulty adjusting to grounders accelerating on the quick grass surface. The ’Bows committed eight errors in the two losses (nine in the three-game series). The grounders have truer bounces on the Riverside Sports Complex field.
“Nothing is as fast as Cal Poly’s surface,” Trapasso said. UCR’s field “is a little better. But you still have to make the plays. Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of ground balls, which means we’ll have to make a lot of plays on ground balls. If you’re getting a lot of ground balls, it means your pitchers are keeping the ball down in the zone. That’s priority one.”
Trapasso said he is hopeful corner outfielder Adam Fogel, who did not play the past two games because of an ankle issue, will be available today, at least as a designated hitter. Fogel is hitting .318, and 1o of his 28 hits have been for extra bases (nine doubles and a homer).
The Highlanders will start Alex Fagalde today and Ryan Lillie, who also can be used as a catcher, on Friday. Both are power pitchers.
