Nearly every baseball figure has a walk-out song. University of Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso’s theme could be “Enter Sandman.”
“It’s that time of the year, when the season starts, sleep is the enemy,” Trapasso said.
This past weekend, the Rainbow Warriors lost three of four in the season-opening series against Portland. Trapasso is hopeful for a more productive performance in the series against Iowa, which begins tonight at Les Murakami Stadium. Jeremy Wu-Yelland’s first pitch is expected at 6:35 p.m.
“I internalize things, probably to my detriment, where anytime something negative happens, I internalize and feel it’s my fault,” Trapasso said. “So you don’t sleep, and continue to work on it until you fix it. You just don’t rest or let up until you’re comfortable with it. A lot of coaches are that way. I think it helps a lot of coaches. That’s just my personality. I think that personality trait helps in coaching, but maybe off the field, it annoys some people. That’s just the way I am.”
Against Portland, center fielder Adam Fogel, shortstop Maaki Yamazaki and designated hitter Logan Pouelsen combined to bat .155 (7-for-45).
“We know that Fogel, Maaki and Logan are going to hit,” Trapasso said.
The ’Bows’ pitching also had a difficult opening weekend. The UH pitchers combined for a 6.08 earned-run average and 1.84 WHIP. They also hit two batters, balked twice and enabled Portland to hit .367 with two outs.
“Pitching is not as hard as people make it out to be,” Trapasso said. “If you just throw quality pitches in the proper locations, it’s harder to hit because hitting is hard, Pitchers give hitters too much credit too often. They end up getting outside themselves and overthrowing and getting behind in counts. And that’s when it’s easier to hit when it’s a 2-0, 3-1 count, and you know a fastball down the middle is coming. And we had way too many of those this past weekend.”
Wu-Yelland allowed three runs in 51⁄3 innings, but he struck out seven and walked two. Freshmen Aaron Davenport, Cade Halemanu and Li‘i Pontes had impressive debuts. Davenport fanned six in 51⁄3 innings. Halemanu retired four of the five batters he faced. Pontes pitched five scoreless innings of relief.
Against Iowa, the ’Bows’ first three starting pitchers will be Wu-Yelland tonight, and Davenport and Pontes for Saturday’s doubleheader. A UH starter has not been decided for Sunday’s matinee. Trapasso said Pontes was deserving of a start after being “the best of the whole weekend as far as the job he did.”
Pontes has three pitches — fastball, changeup and slider. “Same mind-set as last week,” Pontes said of Saturday’s approach. “Stay low (in the strike zone), make quality pitches, and have my defense back me up.”
Against Portland, Pontes threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 17 batters. He struck out two, and induced eight groundouts.
Pontes said the move from bullpen to starter involves “different preparation. I have to get my mind set early, like in the beginning of the day, getting a good breakfast. I have to open up the gates, come out strong, and do whatever I can to help out the team.”
His breakfast choice?
“It all depends on the mood when I wake up. But I like rice. Big rice. Rice and eggs.”
NCAA BASEBALL
>> Who: Iowa (2-1) vs. Hawaii (1-3)
>> When: 6:35 p.m. today; 1:05 p.m. doubleheader Saturday; 1:05 p.m. Sunday
>> Where: Les Murakami Stadium
>> TV: Spectrum Sports (today only)
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM today and Sunday; KHKA, 1500-AM Saturday
