Hawaii baseball coach Mike Trapasso addressed a need on the mound, officially signing six pitchers to his 2013 recruiting class on Wednesday.
Nine players total signed during the fall period, including four from Southern California and three from Bellevue (Wash.) College.
"We know we’ve got some pitching we’re going to lose this year and I wanted it to be a balanced class with high school guys and junior college guys," Trapasso said. "As always you never know what the class is going to end up looking like with the draft, but it’s a great start for us."
Five of the 10 seniors at UH are full-time pitchers with another, Jesse Moore, who pitches and plays middle infield.
UH BASEBALL SIGNEES
| Name |
Pos. |
Last school |
| Bryan Burgher |
RHP |
Bellevue (Wash.) College |
| Matt Cooper |
RHP |
Bellevue (Wash.) College |
| Andrew Jones |
LHP |
Grayson County (Tex.) College |
| Scott Kuzminsky |
RHP |
Bellevue (Wash.) College |
| John Lopez |
RHP |
Santiago (Calif.) H.S. |
| Carlos Martinez |
INF/OF |
Nogales (Calif.) H.S. |
| Andre Real |
2B |
Orange Lutheran (Calif.) H.S. |
| Nik Stephenson |
C/RHP |
Sunset (Calif.) H.S. |
| Quintin Torres-Costa |
LHP |
Waiakea H.S. |
|
A trio of right-handers from Bellevue include 6-foot-1 Matt Cooper and 6-3 Scott Kuzminsky, who led the Bulldogs to the 2011 NWAACC championship. Cooper went 5-2 with a 2.33 ERA and Kuzminsky struck out 36 in 361⁄3 innings out of the bullpen.
Bryan Burgher, who went 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA in his senior year at Emerald Ridge High and was drafted in the 50th round of this year’s MLB First-Year Player Draft, will transfer to UH as a sophomore.
Trapasso said the move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Big West helped land four talented high schoolers from Southern California, including Sunset catcher/pitcher Nik Stephenson and Santiago right-hander John Lopez, who are both ranked in the Perfect Game USA Top 200.
Carlos Martinez, an infield/outfield prospect from Nogales High, and Orange Lutheran High second baseman Andre Real round out the group.
"All are from strong high schools in Southern California and I think every one of those kids was excited about the prospect of coming in as a freshman and being able to play so many games back home in front of family and friends against great competition," Trapasso said.
"There’s no question it’s not a coincidence that all of our high school kids that we signed from the mainland came from Southern California."
UH also signed left-hander Andrew Jones from Grayson (Texas) County College and Waiakea High left-hander Quintin Torres-Costa.
Torres-Costa helped lead a Hilo team that included 2014 commits Kean Wong and Chayce Kaaua, to the 2011 Senior League World Series championship.
Mid-Pacific junior Marcus Doi has also committed to UH in 2014.
