One of Hawaii baseball coach Mike Trapasso’s little- known talents is his dead-on impersonation of Jimmy Stewart in “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
And despite going 1-2 against Arizona State, Trapasso remains wonderfully optimistic about the Rainbow Warriors. The ’Bows upset the 15th-ranked Sun Devils in the season opener, then missed a chance to win the three-game series because of wildness and errors. In the second game, seven walks were parlayed into five of ASU’s six runs.
But Trapasso indicated the inability to “pound the zone” consistently is correctable. Reliever Jake Hymel had control problems, but his fastball also touched 93 mph.
For the first time in nearly a year, the ’Bows will play at home when they meet Hawaii Pacific in a four-game series beginning Thursday night.
The ’Bows probably will continue to rest right-handed pitcher Logan Pouelsen, their No. 3 starter. Pouelsen did not pitch against ASU because of discomfort in his pitching shoulder. Trapasso said Pouelsen should be able to pitch in the March 12-14 series against Hawaii Hilo in advance of the Big West opener against Long Beach State on March 26-28.
Trapasso said Aaron Davenport and Cade Halemanu will start the first two games against HPU, with “TBA and TBA” for the third and fourth games.
Trapasso said freshman Austin Teixeira, regarded as the No. 4 starter, and Buddie Pindel and Li‘i Pontes are contenders to start.
Teixeira pitched two innings of scoreless relief against ASU. Teixeira appears to be immune to jitters. “When I put him in the game on Friday night, it was nothing,” Trapasso said. “The kid was just like he is in a regular bullpen session on a Tuesday afternoon in Les Murakami Stadium. It was like, ‘Hey, this is cool.’ It was a really nice thing to see.”
Trapasso also has found depth at second and in the outfield. Neither Stone Miyao nor Aaron Ujimori committed an error while splitting time at second. Ujimori missed all but one game last season after suffering a hand injury.
“He just plays well,” Trapasso said of Ujimori. “He does everything well. He plays well defensively. The thing about Uji is he can hit fastballs. And he’s a switch-hitter. We’re really happy where we are with that position because Stone also is a guy who has a chance to play at the next level. Between those two, I think we’ll see them playing quite a bit.”
Jacob Igawa, an outfielder who transferred from Hawaii Hilo last summer, also impressed this weekend. As a pinch hitter in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Igawa drew a bases-loaded walk. In the twinbill’s second game, he went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“He’s a force offensively and has a chance to be a real producer in the middle of the lineup,” Trapasso said. “I think we’ll see more of him offensively.”