In college baseball, shifts happen.

But it was a surprise several weekends ago when Longwood aligned in a dramatic shift with their middle infielders on the right side with the anticipation left-swinging Alex Baeza would pull pitches. Baeza, Hawaii’s sophomore first baseman, responded by placing six of the 11 balls he put into play to the middle or left side.

“He’s a good hitter,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said of Baeza. “Good hitters go up there looking for what (pitch) they’re going to get and not necessarily what they want. Bad hitters go up there looking for what they want.”

Baeza has been on a hitting tear. He has hit safely in 10 of the past 11 games, including hitting 8-for-20 in the past five. This season, Baeza has a team-high .341 batting average. He is hitting .750 with a runner on third and less than two outs, .483 with runners in scoring position, and .432 with runners on base. He tops the Rainbow Warriors in successfully advancing runners (56.6 percent).

The shifts also have ceased. Of the 64 balls Baeza has put into play this season, 39.1 percent were hit to the left side and 12.5 percent to the middle.

“When I was younger, I was more of a pull hitter,” Baeza said. “Every young kid sees the guys on TV going big pull-side home runs. You get excited seeing that. As you get older, you know, working to the middle of the field is going to have more success for you. That’s what I try to work on in the (batting) cage. I try to stay away from the pull side.”

This season’s approach is to go with the pitch. “If (the pitch is) away, to try to stay with it away,” Baeza said. “If they throw in the middle, I try to go to the middle.”

He said he targets the right-center and left-center gaps. “The big part of the field,” he said. “It gives me more room for error that way.”

Assistant coaches Mike Brown and Cart Fraticelli also have tinkered with Baeza’s swing. Baeza said he always had a rhythmic lower-body movement into each swing. But during his redshirt year in 2017 and freshman season in 2018, he admittedly lacked “rhythm with my upper body, the rhythm in my hands.”

He raised his bat level, with the barrel moving from his left shoulder to his left ear. “You see more of a flow up top,” Baeza said, noting the bat “is wiggling around my ears to get some early rhythm, early movement.”

To assist with the rhythmic swing, he will listen to reggae during batting practice and rap during pre-game warm-ups. His walk-up song is El Alfa’s “Suave.”

“(Relief pitcher) Scott Bellina introduced me to that song,” Baeza said. “He said I had to do it. I gave it one listen, and I was hooked. All props to Scotty. (That song) mentally locks me in and gets me ready to go. It gives me a little edge going against the pitcher. Once I get into the box, it’s me versus him. It’s his best stuff against mine.”

Baeza’s best stuff might be as a first baseman. This season, he has committed only one error in 200 chances. That glove story has chilled plans to use Baeza in the outfield or as a pitcher.

“I played first base since I first picked up a glove,” Baeza said. “My first glove, when I was 3 years old, was a first base glove. My dad, since I was young, was always drilling me with the defensive side of first base. I always had a passion for the corner over there.”

Of Baeza’s versatility, Trapasso said: “He’s a baseball player.”

ALEX BAEZA’S DIRECTIONS

(Balls hit forward and in play, excluding catcher popups and sacrifice bunts)

LEFT SIDE / MIDDLE / RIGHT SIDE / TOTAL

25 (39.1%) 8 (12.5%) 31 (48.4%) 64

BIG WEST BASEBALL

>> Who: UC Irvine (15-4, 0-0 BWC) at Hawaii (10-14, 0-0)

>> When: 6:35 p.m. Friday, Saturday, 1:05 p.m. Sunday

>> Where: Les Murakami Stadium

>> TV: Spectrum Sports on Friday, Saturday

>> Radio: 1500-AM Friday, Sunday, 1420-AM Saturday