That’s the winning recipe for this team.
The one Mike Trapasso has talked about all season. Defense, pitching and execution on offense. In that order of priority … but not necessarily chronology.
“My formula is less drama,” the University of Hawaii baseball coach said after Saturday’s scintillating 3-2, 10-inning win over Fresno State gave the Rainbows their fifth victory in their last six outings. “I’d rather we get three or four runs early.”
Of course that was at least partly in jest. Trapasso will take a couple of hours of stress for that kind of outcome. Every time.
The late heroics will bring the fans back for more. Plus, it’s revenge against the Bulldogs for stealing one at the end from the Rainbows the night before.
And doing it that way — down to the last out with no one on base, trailing a run, against a conference rival — surely helps the confidence of a UH team that hasn’t gotten as many clutch hits as it would like.
The biggest knock coming off the bat of junior shortstop Pi‘ikea Kitamura is no surprise. But it might have been last season; he leads UH with a .325 batting average compared to .208 in 2011.
Kitamura’s transformation from a guy with potential to the team’s most productive and perhaps best all-around player is remarkable, but no accident.
He credits Tactical Strength & Conditioning for helping him drop 15 pounds in the offseason. Now, at
6-feet-1 and 195, Kitamura enjoys much better foot and bat speed, as well as strength.
“He trimmed down for better range,” Trapasso said. “He’s anchoring our defense; he’s our leader in the clubhouse and no one works harder.”
UH made five defensive plays earning stars in my scorebook. Without any one of them — going all the way back to Scott Squier’s pickoff in the first and Zack Swasey’s throw to the plate in the second — Hawaii doesn’t stay close enough to tie the game in the seventh and give itself a chance to win.
Same for Squier’s strong start and the relief efforts by Lawrence Chew and Brent Harrison with Bulldogs in scoring position.
Kitamura turned in the most impressive defensive play. He ranged deep into the hole at short for a moderately hit grounder and fired strong and true for the out at first. He did it so smoothly it’s easy to miss that he threw off his back foot.
He comes from one of Hawaii’s most famed baseball families, and he’s always had the hands, the arm and the skill. But Kitamura admits he might not have gotten to that ball last year, at least not in position to make a play.
As for the double into the gap to win it?
“I want to say ‘yes,’ but you never know. I just know that with our team, every play matters,”Kitamura said. “For us to win we have to grind it out and play all nine.”
Or all 10 if necessary.
