One of the most memorable quotes I have ever recorded as a beat writer came from the losing coach in the first game of the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament in Mesa, Ariz., in 2010.
Louisiana Tech baseball coach Wade Simoneaux was gracious enough to do an interview after his team had just lost a soul-crushing 8-7 game in 10 innings against Hawaii at Hohokam Stadium, which at the time was the minor league home of the Chicago Cubs.
The Bulldogs were up a run in the bottom of the 10th inning. UH had the tying run on first base with two outs with Kolten Wong, who hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, up to bat.
This was my first time traveling as the UH baseball beat writer. I was still in shock at the size of the press box that was actually air conditioned. It even had a soda machine, which was heavenly for someone who had only covered baseball in the Les Murakami Stadium press box.
I had just met the people running the tournament and we were all in agreement there was no way you could pitch to Wong in this situation.
The Bulldogs decided not to walk him, and on a 1-1 count, Wong obliterated a pitch over the wall in right field into the bullpen to give UH the walk-off victory. Hawaii went on to win the tournament, save Mike Trapasso’s job as head coach for another decade, and reach a NCAA Regional final against No. 1 seed Arizona State just a short drive down the road after beating nationally-ranked San Diego twice, which was coached by some guy named Rich Hill.
I asked Simoneaux why he pitched to Wong in that situation. His response was they weren’t worried about walking him, but didn’t want to just give up a free pass. The ol’ unintentional, intentional walk you could say. Except for one problem.
“He missed his spot,” Simoneaux said of his pitcher.
Even in the moments after a staggering defeat, Coach and I both chuckled as soon as he said it. How else could you react?
Kolten Wong tended to do that to a lot of pitchers he faced in his three-year UH career. The graduate of Kamehameha-Hawaii had an opportunity to start his major league career when he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins out of high school, but he turned down $75,000 and elected to follow his dreams and play in front of the hometown crowd at Les Murakami Stadium.
That decision would have a lasting effect for decades to come.
Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium, he was back for the first time during the UH season. For more than a decade, Wong was too busy playing to make a home game, working his way up through Saint Louis’ minor league system after the Cardinals made him the 22nd overall selection in the 2011 MLB Draft.
He enjoyed an 11-year major league career with four teams, but predominantly the Cardinals, where he won two gold gloves and finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2014.
His likeness and number on the outfield represent the only position player in UH history to have his jersey retired.
Sunday, he was inducted into the UH Sports Circle of Honor.
As impressive as it was getting a front-row seat to his entire collegiate career, the memories that stand out the most all of these years later are the stories of him off the field.
It didn’t matter if UH had played nine innings or 17 the previous night, every Saturday morning during the season, if Hawaii was playing at home, Kolten was up before the sun rose to get in an hour of work with his father, Kaha, who would fly over from the Big Island every weekend.
They had to be off the field in Kahala before 8, when the Kalani softball team was scheduled to practice, and the workout was never the same. One day, 30 minutes could be spent bunting. The next week, every ball Wong swung at was meant to go the opposite way.
There were also 2-hour sessions when Kolten was younger and still on the Big Island where he would take an axe and cut down a tree. The goal? Add power to that swing.
I always wondered how many trees ended up falling to the ground.
In his last year with UH, Hawaii won 34 games, was the top seed in the WAC Tournament after going 17-7, and made the final before losing to Fresno State.
Although deserving, UH didn’t receive an at-large bid to return to a NCAA Regional and Wong’s three-year run at Hawaii was done.
All of this time later, Wong remains a fixture in the UH record book. His .358 career batting average is fourth on the UH career list and he’s third in slugging at .563. No player other than him has slugged over .500 since the early 1990s.
His 25 career home runs are topped only by John Matias’ 30. Matias also played one full season more than Wong.
His 245 hits and 385 total bases also remain in the top 10 and he’s the only one of the bunch to not have played four years.
I was hired as a full-time reporter for the first time by the Star-Bulletin in 2007. I remember my boss, Paul Arnett, telling me during the Sugar Bowl UH football season, “Enjoy this while you can. There will never be another like it.”
He could have said the same thing on opening night in 2009, when UH was nearly no-hit by Daniel Bibona and lost to UC Irvine.
Wong hit leadoff in that opener and went 0-for-4 in his UH debut. It may not have looked that way that night, but it proved to be true just two years later.
There aren’t any other UH baseball teams I enjoyed covering more, and there will never be another UH baseball player like Kolten Wong.
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Reach Billy Hull at bhull@staradvertiser.com.
