UH-Hilo’s baseball team won’t have Jordan Kurokawa as part of its arsenal of arms, but the former ace may play a role when it comes to the Vulcans trying to solve Biola’s stingy pitching staff.
After a 19-day layoff, UHH opens a four-game nonconference series against the Eagles with a 3 p.m. doubleheader Friday at Wong Stadium. Same time, same place, same setup Saturday as well.
“We tried to keep ourselves busy by scrimmaging,” coach Kallen Miyataki said. “When Kurokawa comes back (the alumni game was Feb. 22), that helps. Richie Mariano, too.”
UHH (2-4) is riding a four-game losing streak into its games against Biola (9-1) – which boasts two of the hottest players in the Pacific West Conference in RobertAnthony Cruz and Larson Kindreich. However, two of those losses came against Division I Hawaii. A day after that second defeat, Miyataki said he did his fair share of experimenting in losses at Hawaii Pacific that were also out of conference.
“We were very interested in seeing the younger players get a chance to play,” he said. “We made a few mistakes that were correctable. We’ll see how well we’ve advanced.”
As evidenced by their record, Miyataki called the Eagles a well-rounded team under first-year skipper Jeff Calhoon.
“Biola can hit, pitch, speed, pretty much everything,” he said.
Kindreich (3-0), a 6-foot-4 sophomore left-hander, has been dominant in all three of his starts and has yet to allow an earned run in 20 innings. During that stretch, Kindreich has struck out 35, including 15 against UC Colorado Springs, and given up only eight hits.
Cruz, a junior infielder, already has clubbed five home runs with four doubles, hitting .400 and slugging a hefty .943.
“He really hits the ball, one of the better players in the league,” Miyataki said.
Junior transfer Christian Casados (1-0, 4.15) draws the starting assignment for the Vuls in the first game Friday, followed by junior left-hander Kyle Alcorn (0-0, 5.14). On Saturday, senior Christian Sadler will make his first start of the season, as will freshman Christian DeJesus.
“Dejesus threw really well against Hawaii,” Miyataki said.
Powered by Kindreich, Biola boasts a PacWest-best team ERA of 3.14, yields less than a hit an inning and has allowed three runs or fewer in seven games.
Win or lose, the Vuls will look to improve on their 2-0 PacWest record next week against Azusa Pacific, and UHH and Biola still have a four-gamer in Southern California in April.
“These four games will be a good testing ground,” Miyataki said. “Winning every game is important, but you might see some things that are interesting.”
