In baseball, doing the little things right always adds up to a convergence of well-played games whose byproduct is winning.
It’s as old as the game itself, something coach Kallen Miyataki stresses on a daily basis with his team that is 5-15 this season, 5-13 in the Pacific West Conference prior to a rare Saturday-Monday four-game series with Fresno Pacific (11-14, 8-8). The series includes two nine-inning games Saturday and a nine- and seven-inning game Monday.
When they get through this series, it seems likely the Vulcans’ perspective on the rest of the season will either be emboldened or disillusioned.
Their early season, error-prone play may have been somewhat relieved, the pitching shows some promise at the top of the rotation (and lots of concerns after the first two starters), and while the hitting continues to be anemic, the Vulcans have played the “little ball” game of moving runners along with bunts more effectively than in the past.
This is all to say, some of the “little things” — they aren’t little when a late-inning error opens the gate for the opponents’ winning run — are getting better.
A more imponderable issue is the big picture. Has the coach seen enough to tell whether the Vulcans truly know how to win? There was a long pause before he responded.
“That’s a great question,” Miyataki said. “That’s basically the question we face every day. Some days I wonder more than other days.”
A couple statistics are in order. The Vulcans have committed 39 errors in their 18 games. Fresno Pacific, a former NAIA World Series team a few years back, has made just 22 errors — best in the conference — in 25 games. Hawaii Hilo has only turned a conference-low 15 double plays and a staff earned run average of 6.19 has yielded an opponents batting average of .307, tied with Holy Names for the conference low.
So after splitting four games with Holy Names, the Vulcans greet the Sunbirds, coming off a four-game series with the Dixie State (ranked 21st nationally at the time), in which they won three games.
“That’s impressive,” Miyataki said. “They are getting hot just in time to visit us.”
All of this takes us back to the bigger issue.
“I believe we are making progress,” Miyataki said, “I see it in the little things, but we all wonder when it will show up in our games.”
He has tried almost everything, it seems. To correct fielding issues, he uses a game of “21” in practice, in which the defense has 21 attempts to make situational plays from a batted ball at home plate. Runner on first, no outs, ground ball to the infield; bases loaded, one out; runner on third with no outs and a bunt is laid down, and so on.
“The game is you have to get all 21,” he said. “If not, when an error is made, everyone runs and then we start over again. It’s been useful, we are a great practice team.”
It begs the question. How to transfer practice accomplishments to conference games?
“There is no one answer,” Miyataki said. “It’s nothing like, ‘if you yell at them, they’ll get better,’ or if you put more pressure or less pressure, it will all work out.
“To be honest,” he said, “this is why we have sports psychologists, this is why every major league team has at least one they can bring into to work with people. Everyone’s watching you out on the field and that, by itself, can create distractions.
“Not everything is perfect in life, it’s one of the big things we need to get our guys to fully understand. Hopefully, going through this process with them will be a benefit, because these are not just baseball lessons, they are life lessons. We’re just using baseball as a vehicle to teach these lessons.”
The weekend series will open at 4 p.m. Saturday when Eric Vega (1-2, 4.44 earned run average) takes the mound in an effort to get the Vulcans another win at home. He will be followed in the second game by Dylan Spain (1-3, 4.28). Miyataki said he won’t know who will start Monday’s games, perhaps until Monday.
“We need to do everything we can to win these (Saturday) games,” he said. “We need to put our best out there and give it our best shot. We will throw who ever is available Monday.”
After this series, UHH heads to the mainland for eight games against Point Loma and Cal Baptist, two schools that overwhelm UHH in recruiting advantages and finances, and following that will be on last home series against Dixie State.
