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Cade Halemanu’s end game is his starter’s approach.
After lasting only two-thirds of an inning in last week’s road loss to UNLV, Halemanu has vowed to live up to preseason expectations as the ace of the University of Hawaii baseball team’s pitching rotation. For Halemanu, that means treating every inning, particularly the early ones, as if it were the ninth inning of a close game.
“That’s really the approach we’re taking,” UH pitching coach Mathew Troupe said.
Halemanu will start in Thursday night’s series opener against Cal State Northridge at Les Murakami Stadium. Blaze Koali‘i Pontes will start on Friday for UH. No UH starting pitcher has been named for Sunday’s series finale. The teams will not play on Saturday because of UH’s commencement ceremonies.
Halemanu allowed one first-inning hit in starts against Cal State Bakersfield, UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton. But he was rocked for six hits and a walk in last week’s first inning against UNLV. On Saturday, the day after that loss, Halemanu spoke to Troupe.
“Enough of this,” Halemanu said before reiterating his plan to focus on each inning.
“Super talented,” Troupe said of the right-hander from Pearl City. “He’s got the arm. He’s got the secondary pitches. Instead of taking his foot off the gas early in a start, we’re legitimately going ‘ninth inning’ (in) inning one, inning two, for however long he’s out there.”
During that talk, Troupe noticed “his eyes looked a little different. He looked a little pissed, which we talked about as a good thing. That’s what gets me excited for this week.”
For the past four weeks, Pontes has been the ’Bows’ best pitcher. In four starts, Pontes has a 1.80 ERA and 0.96 WHIP while averaging 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings. In the past nine games, Pontes has a 1.62 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.
“He’s in a good place right now, very confident,” Troupe said of Pontes, who mixes an all-direction fastball, change-up and slider. “That slider — I don’t think this has been talked about — prior to this past weekend, it’s 50% swing-and-miss on sliders that are for strikes. I’ve never seen that in any staff that I’ve had, a certain pitch like that having that much success. But, yes, it’s been a fun progression for Li‘i Pontes.”
Troupe said Pontes’ emergence stemmed from several bullpen sessions that improved his confidence.
Troupe said Saturday’s bye will allow pitchers who threw on Thursday or Friday to be available for Sunday’s game. Last week, Buddie Pindel pitched 41⁄3 innings in the opener against UNLV, then came back two days later to close out the series. Pindel is among nine UH pitchers to both start and relieve this season. Since the fall workouts, every pitcher except Halemanu has been trained for multiple roles.
“I will get myself prepared, and then perhaps my chance will come,” said Troupe, reciting the pitching staff’s mantra. ‘That exact quote we’ve said over and over. I’ve printed it out. I put it in their lockers.”
The ’Bows are down to 12 available pitchers with the announcement Trevor Ichimura will not pitch the rest of the season. His sixth — and final — outing was on March 13 against Rutgers. Ichimura has been rehabilitating a shoulder ailment that did not require surgery. Ichimura is 1-0 with a team-best 2.13 ERA.
“At this point in time this season, it’s not a situation where we are planning on ramping him up to be competitive in an inning here or there,” Troupe said. “Any loss is going to be a tough one, and he was doing a heck of a job with the opportunities he had up until some shoulder fatigue. It didn’t require surgery. It doesn’t require surgery. At this point in time, we’re ramping him up to be prepared for the next fall.”
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