Better beware, Azusa Pacific: UH-Hilo is undefeated playing against No. 1.
The Vulcans welcome the top-ranked Cougars for a 4 p.m. doubleheader Monday at Wong Stadium carrying an unblemished albeit abbreviated 1-0 record when taking on the top college baseball team in the land.
On a midweek day in 1993, former longtime UH-Hilo baseball coach Joey Estrella remembers handing the ball to surprise starter Kele Coloma, then watching as “everything fell into place.” The Vulcans shocked Division I No. 1 Southern California 2-1 on the Trojans’ home field.
“It was crazy,” Estrella recalled the other day. “They were gearing up to play UCLA and they didn’t throw their best pitchers, so they threw a freshman from the JV. Kele didn’t know he was going to pitch, but he pitched well.”
Estrella said it was the classic case of a team hitting the ball hard but right at fielders.
“Nolan Tokuda (now the athletic director at Leilehua on Oahu) was our third baseman, and his hand was black and blue after the game because they hit so many shots at third base,” Estrella said.
Laupahoehoe’s Shon Malani hasn’t forgotten the game either, and if he does, any former Vul is bound to remind him. Malani, a former standout at Hilo High, was a junior designated hitter on that Trojans team.
“We caught them on a Tuesday in the middle of our (conference) schedule,” Malani recalled. “It was just one of those games.
“Kele absolutely handcuffed us with curveballs.”
The most famous player on the field that day was USC third baseman Aaron Boone, now the manager of the New York Yankees, and a member of Malani’s recruiting class.
“That was the first time I saw so many people taking a picture of our scoreboard,” Malani joked. “I guess I didn’t give (USC) a good scouting report.”
The next day, Estrella said, the Vulcans took on a much-less heralded and smaller school, Masters, and lost “something like 16-9.”
“We went from the penthouse to the outhouse,” Estrella said.
The Vulcans (12-16 overall, 8-12 Pacific West Conference) of the present don’t have any hallmark victories under their belts yet, but they were unfazed on their first road trip, despite a five-game losing steak that sandwiched three victories.
“We played really well,” coach Kallen Miyataki said, “we just didn’t hit at key moments.”
With two more wins, the Vuls can match their highest win total since 2014, Miyataki’s first season at the helm after Estrella retired. The last time UH-Hilo finished a season within four games of .500 was a 21-25 campaign in 2011.
“We are a different team,” Miyataki said. “We keep fighting.”
Ranked No. 1 in the latest Division II poll, the Cougars (27-3, 17-3), of course, are a different team, too.
Holding a four-game lead atop the PacWest, Azusa boasts a hefty team-batting average of .299, led by by senior outfielder Pablo O’Connor (.375 average, eight home runs, 19 RBIs), the reigning conference Player of the Year and a first-team All-American, and Sean Aspinall (.345, 8, 31).
Armed with three pitchers with unbeaten records – Isaiah Carranza (7-0, 2.72 ERA), Dillon Miyashiro (6-0, 3.18) and Layne Henderson (5-0, 2.43) – Azusa has a staff ERA of 3.84.
“They are top notch and (coach) Paul (Svagdis) is a great coach,” Miyataki said. “They are a private school, and they can go out and buy talent.
“We are a developmental program, so we have to take talent and develop it.”
The current case study for development at UHH is senior first baseman Phillip Steering (.313, team-best 22 runs, 5 HRs, 20 RBIs).
Redshirt freshman Jaryn Kanbara may well be an understudy. The Leilehua graduate is finding everyday work at catcher and has hits in seven of his past games, raising his average to .273.
“We knew he could hit, and he’s going out there and playing with spunk and producing,” Miyataki said.
Notes: The Vuls skipper said freshman left-hander Travis Alcorn (2-1, 2.52 ERA) and sophomore right-hander Dylan Spain (2-4, 4.32) would start Monday’s games. Junior righty Drew Ichikawa (0-1, 6.67) and freshman righty Travis Burleson (2-4, 5.00) are scheduled to get starts in Tuesday’s 4 p.m. doubleheader… Keaau graduate Jonathan Segovia missed time earlier in the season with an injury, but he’s hitting .400 in 19 games. … Azusa hasn’t played since March 24, when they split against PacWest cellar-dweller Holy Names.