An unremarkable thing happened after the Hawaii baseball team lost on a walk-off hit for the second time in three days last weekend.
The sun came up the next day.
“Everybody processes a tough emotional loss — whether it be basketball, football, baseball — differently,” UH coach Rich Hill said of the fresh-day optimism following Sunday’s 12-11 loss in 10 innings to Cal State Fullerton. “When the sun comes up the next day, wide open, you’re the first guy in. Whether or not you’re a father, a husband, a CEO, people are going to feed off your energy.”
If the coaches have a woe-is-me demeanor, Hill said, “that’s how the rest of the (team) is going to be. Our staff has been great about bringing the energy after a tough loss. That’s the greatest thing about baseball. That word — tomorrow.”
Hill said the ’Bows hope to benefit from mistakes and inconsistency from losing two of three Big West games to Fullerton.
“The game of baseball revealed itself to us over the weekend,” Hill said. “The importance of playing fast catch. The importance of covering second base as an outfielder. And how much time we spend on bunt defense. And how much time we spend on pitchers’ fielding practice. And how much time we spend on hitting with runners in scoring position. The things we do in training really reared their head over the weekend, which is great. We get to learn about that. We talked about winning a series. That’s really how you win a championship.”
Because Easter Sunday is a holiday, the three-game series against Cal State Bakersfield begins Thursday night and concludes with Saturday’s matinee at Les Murakami Stadium. Thursday is the start of a nine-game homestand for the ’Bows.
“We can get into a routine a little bit better, and I’m excited for it,” Hill said.
The ’Bows have been offensively productive recently. On Saturday, center fielder Matt Wong reached in all six of his plate appearances — 4-for-4, including two doubles, and two walks. Catcher DallasJ Duarte went 5-for-6 the next day. Third baseman Kyson Donahue has a 15-game hitting streak.
While first-year ’Bow Ben Zeigler-Namoa has impressed at the plate — .347 with three home runs — he has been inconsistent on the mound despite a 3-1 record. He did not last longer than five batters in his last two appearances during which he threw strikes on 17 of 38 pitches.
“He’s got a great future as a position player, either left field or first base,” Hill said of Zeigler-Namoa. “He’s a great team guy. But he needs to find the strike zone more consistently. He’s on his way. (Pitching) Coach (Mathew) Troupe and him are really doing some good things. His velocity has increased since he’s been here. Being thrown out there in a Division I game with not a lot of experience, it’s very rare for some guys to find (immediate) success. He’s on that path.”
Big West Baseball
Cal State Bakersfield (10-16, 1-8 Big West) at Hawaii (13-10, 3-3 BWC)
>> When: 6:35 p.m. Thursday, Friday; 1:05 p.m. Saturday
>> Where: Les Murakami Stadium
>> TV: Spectrum Sports on Thursday
>> RADIO: 1420-AM Thursday, Saturday; 1500-AM Friday
