Fulfilling the school’s motto — “the world is our campus”— the Brigham Young University baseball team is on a campus tour of 11 road games in 15 days.
The middle leg is a four-game series against Hawaii beginning tonight at Les Murakami Stadium. There is a single game Friday and doubleheader on Saturday.
“Our philosophy scheduling is we want to play the best competition,” said BYU coach Mike Littlewood, whose Cougars won three of four at Cal State Northridge to open the 2018 season. The Cougars play at Auburn next week.
The Cougars travel with a gap-to-gap offense that is sabermetrics-based. The hitting approach is to work deep into the count while the pitch meter is running. The goal is for an opposing pitcher to near 80 pitches by the end of the fifth inning to facilitate an early departure.
“If we can work the pitch count, that’s the biggest thing,” Littlewood said.
UH’s top three starting pitchers — Jackson Rees, Dominic DeMiero and Neil Uskali — are 3-0 with a combined 0.96 ERA and 0.96 WHIP following a season-opening sweep of Air Force.
“We feed off each other,” said Rees, who will start tonight.
All three are in their second UH season. Through a conditioning program and long-toss workouts, they believe they can maintain their strength throughout the season. “I’m definitely noticing a big difference in endurance and arm strength,” DeMiero said.
Against Air Force, Uskali allowed a run in 51⁄3 innings despite struggling with his secondary pitches. “I had my B-minus stuff,” Uskali said. “I found a way to get it done.”
Trapasso said Uskali is resourceful that “when the scoreboard’s turned on, and you’re struggling with a certain pitch, it’s about finding a way to get outs.”
The Cougars counter with a lineup stacked with contact hitters. In 2017, outfielder Brock Hale hit .395 with a .481 on-base percentage. Catcher David Clawson is a former New York Yankees draft selection. First baseman Brian Hsu, a converted middle infielder who hits in the bottom third of the lineup, went 10-for-17 with five extra-base hits against CSUN.
“We feel we have eight hitters who are going to put together really good at bats,” Littlewood said. “Most of the time, they’re not going to get themselves out.”
The Cougars have a diligent pitching rotation. Their top pitcher, Hayden Rogers, is most comfortable as a third-day starter. He is scheduled to pitch on Saturday unless freshman Ryan Brady, the tentative Friday starter, needs an extra day of rest. Against CSUN, Brady gave up three first-inning runs and then struck out the side.
“In one inning, it showed as a microcosm what his Mo. is about,” Littlewood said of Brady. “As a freshman, he’s got great demeanor, great competitiveness.”
Jordan Wood will open for BYU tonight. Wood has a four-pitch menu: 90-to-92-mph fastball, curveball, cutter and change-up. “When he locates his fastball, like he did against Northridge, he’s pretty unhittable because he has a pretty good change-up,” Littlewood said. “Like any other pitcher, if he can’t control his fastball, he turns into a very average pitcher.”
Littlewood was a BYU third baseman who played twice in Hawaii in the 1980s. He recalled the boisterous UH fans. “They were anti-BYU, which was great,” said Littlewood, who is immune to hecklers.
He was a Division I basketball referee for 16 years.