Perhaps mama wanted to let her baby grow up to be a Cowboy.
Dallas Duarte was named after his mother’s beloved Dallas Cowboys. Instead, Duarte became a standout baseball player. This past weekend, Duarte was one of five freshmen to make an impressive debut for the University of Hawaii baseball team.
Duarte, who started at catcher and second base, leads the Rainbow Warriors with a .462 batting average. Left fielder Scotty Scott hit .286 during the four-game series against Portland. Starting pitcher Aaron Davenport struck out six in five innings. Cade Halemanu did not allow a run in 11⁄3 innings to earn UH’s only win. And Li‘i Pontes pitched five innings of scoreless relief.
“It was an interesting dynamic where the freshmen all excelled and our veteran guys struggled,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “At the end of the day, that gives you a good feeling. The veteran guys are going to come around and be the players they’ve been their whole career. And if we throw the freshmen in there and they continue to play the way they did last weekend, it bodes well.”
Duarte, a Kamehameha-Hawaii graduate, honed his hitting and fielding under Kaha Wong, owner of Big Island Baseball and father of St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong.
“Coach Kaha Wong brought us up,” Duarte said. “He’s the man. I worked with him every day of the week. He was always open for us. The more hacks the better. He always made a better way for us local boys.”
It was Duarte’s defensive skills that caught the UH coaches’ attention.
“We knew when we signed Dallas he was going to be a special defender behind the plate,” Trapasso said. “Nothing he’s done has surprised us. … If anybody watches Dallas for an inning or two, you see a special guy, a high-energy guy, an athlete, a baseball player, a guy who can play multiple positions. And he has a good swing as well. All you have to do is have a conversation with him, and you know you’ve got a special person.”
Scott’s mother had lived on Maui for a couple of years, but that was not a factor in his college choice. “To be honest, I was in bed one day and thinking about recruiting, and I said, ‘what better place to play baseball than in paradise?’ ” recalled Scott, who was born and reared in Texas. “I looked into the program. I saw the program had a good history.”
UH learned of Scott’s interest, and Rusty McNamara, a UH assistant coach at the time, began the recruitment. Scott has been an easy fit at the top of the ’Bows’ lineup.
“I’ve led off, probably, from my tee-ball days,” Scott said. “I try to set the table and do what needs to be done to get things started.”
On Wednesday, Scott was at Les Murakami Stadium at 1 p.m. Practice did not start for another 21⁄2 hours. “There’s nothing I’d rather do,” Scott said.
The initial blueprint projected Halemanu as being a developmental pitcher this year. But Halemanu, a Pearl City graduate, shredded those plans with his fastball command in preseason training.
“He’s a strike thrower with a plus pitch,” Trapasso said of Halemanu. “He’s got a plus changeup.”
Halemanu said he adhered to Trapasso’s basic edict. “Just focus on hitting the glove and phasing everything else out,” Halemanu said.
Pontes, a Kamehameha graduate, said: “The big philosophy out here is keep the pitches low (in the zone). It’s a big ballpark. (Trapasso) tells us not to be afraid to attack batters all the time because if we stay low, our defense will back us up. It’s a very big ballpark. It’s hard to hit balls out of here.”
Pontes has been told he will start the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. “He throws strikes,” Trapasso said. “Quality pitches in quality locations.”
NCAA BASEBALL
>> Who: Iowa (2-1) vs. Hawaii (1-3)
>> When: Friday, 6:35 p.m.; Saturday (doubleheader), 1:05 p.m.; Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
>> Where: Les Murakami Stadium
>> TV: Spectrum Sports (Friday only)
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM Friday and Sunday; KHKA, 1500-AM on Saturday
FAB FRESHMEN
Player, pos. Notes
Aaron Davenport, RHP 10.2 strikeouts per 9 inn.
Dallas Duarte, C-2B .462, team-high six hits
Cade Halemanu, RHP 0.00 ERA, 0.71 WHIP
Li‘i Pontes, RHP 0.00 ERA, 0.40 WHIP
Scotty Scott, LF .474 on-base pct
