Hawaii baseball coach Rich Hill is embracing writer C.R. Manske’s insistence that “life without left-handed people wouldn’t be right.”
Entering today’s opener of a three-game series against Cal Poly, the Rainbow Warriors are expected to continue using a starting lineup with five or six left-handed hitters. Cal Poly’s ace is left-hander Jakob Wright.
Hill said he follows the lead of Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin, who believes in playing the best nine hitters regardless of the lefty-righty matchups.
“I had a conversation with Tim Corbin,” Hill said. “I consider him to be kind of the template of coaches these days in all areas. He’s old school combined with new school. He understands the progressive way of coaching in today’s arena. He lets all his lefties hit against left-handed pitchers. I thought that was a little odd. I talked to him about it.”
According to Corbin, Hill said, when a left-swinging hitter faces a left-handed pitcher, “you eliminate the changeup. So it’s going to be fastball, curveball. And right handers hit curveballs all the time, so why can’t lefties? I think when you have that mindset, it helps our left-handed hitters understand, ‘OK, I’m really not going to see a changeup, It’s fastball, breaking ball.’ Some of our guys hit better against left-handed pitchers. They’re on the plate. They’re focused on going the other way. It’s pretty good.”
This season, left-swinging first baseman Kyson Donahue and corner outfielder Ben Zeigler-Namoa are significantly better against left-handed pitching. Donahue is hitting .424 against left-handers and .301 against righties. Zeigler-Namoa’s splits are .333 and .210.
Shortstop Jordan Donahue is hitting .424 against right-handers and .250 against southpaws — an improvement from last season’s .214 against left-handed pitching. But overall, Donahue has a hit in 17 consecutive games and is batting .387 since moving to the top of the order on March 11.
“He gets it,” Hill said of Donahue, whose improvement is a result of intensive weight training and evening his swing path.
Austin Machado has lefty-righty splits of .295 and .324,
Left-swinging second baseman Stone Miyao and outfielder/infielder Jake Tsukada are hitting below .200 against left-handed pitching. But Miyao is a clutch hitter with a runner on third and less than two outs (.727) and Tsukada is batting .327 with runners on base. Both are standout fielders.
Hill said left-hander Randy Abshier is set to make his second consecutive series-opening start. Hill has not decided on the next two starters. Sebastian Gonzalez, who pitched 61⁄3 scoreless innings in relief of Danny Veloz last week, is a consideration. Hill said Gonzalez has the versatility to be a closer tonight and Sunday. Hill said if Gonzalez is not used tonight, he “can start on Saturday. There are a lot of things we can do. He’s very effective right now, and kind of at the top of the food chain.”
Cal Poly has won seven of its past eight Big West games to move into a first-place tie with UC Irvine at 11-4. Center fielder Jake Steels is hitting .409 with a .536 on-base average. Ryan Stafford is considered one of the top catchers on the West Coast.
“We’re playing better,” Cal Poly coach Larry Lee said. “The first three weeks, we really produced no offense. And starting week 4 of the season, we started hitting in bits and pieces. We have guys in the offensive lineup who have been very productive. We’re still looking to add two or three more into that equation.”
The first five batters in the lineup, including first baseman Joe Yorke (.338) and third baseman Alejandro Garza (.331), are hitting over .300. But in 15 Big West games, the bottom third is hitting a combined .243.
But the Mustangs’ offensive style might be conducive to playing in the crosswinds at Les Murakami Stadium.
“We’re not a power-hitting team,” Lee said. “Hopefully, that bodes well for the majority of our low line-drive approach.”
BIG WEST BASEBALL
At Les Murakami Stadium
HAWAII (20-14, 4-8 BW) VS. CAL POLY (21-14, 11-4 BW)
>> When: 6.35 p.m. today, Saturday; 1:05 p.m. Sunday
>> TV: None
>> Radio: 1500-AM
>> Streaming: None
