It will be a clothes encounter when the Hawaii and San Diego State baseball teams meet in today’s opening round of the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament in San Diego.
“It’s going to be fun to see San Diego State in the black unis with the red pinstripes and us in the Kelly green,” UH coach Rich Hill said of the retro styles. “And it’s going to be a time warp of 40 years. We’ll get a picture, and get that on social media, so all the former Aztecs and all the Rainbows can have a chuckle.”
Hill was an infielder with the Aztecs in 1981 when the rivalry was blazing. The two head coaches at the time — SDSU’s Jim Dietz and UH’s Les Murakami — traded sun-glassed stares. At Rainbow Stadium, UH fans taunted Dietz’s slow walks to the mound. Montezuma Mesa’s revenge came from Raggers’ Rail at Smith Field, where SDSU students shouted game-long insults at the Rainbows.
That 1981 SDSU team featured outfielder Tony Gwynn, a future Hall of Famer. Hill said that as one of three freshman Aztecs, “I got to watch every at-bat of Tony Gwynn from that angle. It was such an unreal experience to watch that guy hit. I knew something special was on the horizon. I mean, a Hall of Fame career you can’t really predict that. But he was big-time — a special guy — and as a person, too.”
Decades later, with Hill coaching at the University of San Diego and Gwynn at his alma mater, they dreamed of co-hosting a baseball tournament. In 2016, nearly two years after Gwynn’s death, the tournament became a reality. It was a way for SDSU head coach Mark Martinez, Hill and San Diego community leaders to honor Gwynn. Initially known as the Tony Gwynn Classic, it now goes as Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament.
Hill, in his first season at UH head coach, has vowed the ’Bows will always participate in this tournament.
For the first of four tournament games, Hill is bringing a 2-2 UH team that cobbled 19 runs on 24 hits in the four-game, season-opening series against Washington State. But the ’Bows coaxed 26 walks, including 11 in the first game; were hit by 12 pitches; and stole eight bases. Last season, the ’Bows averaged 0.7 steals per game. The ’Bows also were charged with only one error — a drive that appeared to pass the fence in left field before being blown back and dropping near outfielder Scotty Scott. “Questionable error,” Hill said.
Scott is second nationally with an on-base average of .833 — 5-for-8, with seven walks and three hit by pitch.
“Everybody has a role,” Scott said. “For me, it’s being the on-base guy. My role is to get on base. That’s the role every at-bat.”
Taking one for the team is a skill Scott learned at an early age. “It’s something my dad practiced with me since kid-pitch started,” Scott said of brush-back pitches. “We started off with some tennis balls. And if I moved out of the way, he threw them harder and harder. I graduated to real baseballs. You just don’t move your feet, and you wear one for the team. A bruise will go away, but a run in the run column won’t.”
The pitchers also have embraced the live-for-today approach.
“Every single game we have ahead of us is the only game that matters,” pitching coach Mathew Troupe said, “Essentially, it’s a Super Bowl every single game. If that means this Friday (that) Cade (Halemanu) starts, and then we go with Buddie (Pindel), and then we go with Li‘i (Pontes) and then Cam Hagan — ‘Wow, you just used four of those quote-unquote top arms’ — and that’s the way we’re going to play it. We’re going to attack every single game with everything we have.”
That led to Connor Harrison earning a save, Dalton Renne pitching a career-high 31⁄3 innings, and left-hander Tai Atkins striking out five of 15 batters and making two scoreless appearances.
The strategy “puts you in a position where you have to be prepared the entire weekend,” Atkins said. “You never know how many games you’re going to pitch or when you’re going to go in. It keeps you on the edge the whole time.”
