In the baseball equivalent of pre-paying for fuel, Hawaii coach Rich Hill expects his Rainbow Warriors to empty their proverbial tank at the end of this weekend’s four-game series against fifth-ranked Vanderbilt.
“It’s a one-game playoff,” Hill said of the approach to tonight’s opener, Saturday’s doubleheader and Sunday’s series’ finale. “It’s that Tommy Lasorda mentality: ‘Hey, it may rain, you know, tomorrow there may be a tsunami that washes out the field.’ We don’t know. You get a chance to beat a Top 5 team in the country, you don’t hold anything back to try and win a series. It’s a seventh-game mentality every game we play this year.”
Right-hander Cade Halemanu will be the ’Bows’ starting pitcher tonight, and Georgia Tech transfer Andy Archer will pitch in the seven-inning first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The ’Bows will go with an ensemble staff for the next two games. Because the series is condensed into three days, pitch counts will determine a pitcher’s availability for a second or third appearance.
The ’Bows used all their available position players in Monday’s 15-inning victory over San Diego State. The ’Bows entered that game with only three outfielders. Naighel Ali‘i Calderon, the fastest ’Bow, is recovering from a hamate injury. Jared Quandt and Tai Quandt are out with injuries.
The 4-4 ’Bows have relied on a trusty defense and opportunistic offense. UH infielders have been charged with three errors in the first eight games. Hill coaches the infielders. “Every day, we take a lot of ground balls to make sure we’re ready for every game,” third baseman Aaron Ujimori said. “Coach Hill does a great job with trying to slow down the game a little bit. A lot of quick tempo in practice so when the game comes, it’s a lot easier for us to just make the play and react.”
At the University of San Diego, where Hill coached for 23 years, Fowler Park — with input from Hill — was designed as a hitter-friendly stadium. While Hill is a proponent of quick-score offense — doubles, home runs— he tailored the ’Bows’ small-ball offense to the personnel and Les Murakami Stadium’s spacious dimensions. Of the 39 UH runs, only 16 came home on hits. The ’Bows also scored on four walks, four hit batsmen, four wild pitches, a passed ball, a balk, two errors, a fielder’s choice, and six sacrifice flies or bunts.
“The majority of our team is a lot of small ball, running the bases hard, taking the extra base, taking the free drag bunt — the free push bunt — whenever we need to, working the count,” Ujimori said. “Our identity is not trying to get too big. Everyone knows their role. Just get on base and get the next guy up and see what happens.”
Vanderbilt also has found success with college baseball’s West Coast offense of bunts, hit-and-runs and aggressive base-running. The Commodores won the 2019 College World Series and were runner-up last year.
“Tim Corbin is the template of what a college baseball coach should be,” Hill said.
Hill said Corbin is mindful of details, surrounds himself with “a great staff, and he has this super power of human connection about him, extremely relatable. His players will choke on their own blood for that guy and their staff.”
Pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker were first-round picks in last year’s draft — Rocker did not sign with the New York Mets and is training for this year’s draft — and the Commodores still have a strong pitching staff. Chris McElvain has not allowed an earned run or extra-base hit in two starts. Carter Holton is limiting opposing batters to a .152 average. Reliever Patrick Reilly has not allowed a run and is avearging 18 strikeouts per nine innings.
Right fielder Spencer James leads Vanderbilt with a .370 average.
