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For the University of Hawaii baseball team, tonight’s home improvement project is to fix the offense.
Returning to Les Murakami Stadium after a two-week road trip, the Rainbow Warriors are hopeful of improving their hitting when they play host to Hawaii Pacific.
While UH’s pitching has been exemplary (sixth nationally with a 2.97 ERA), the offense has not been complementary. In nine Big West games, the ’Bows are last among 11 teams with a collective slash of .208/.311/.267.
Despite 22 different lineups in as many games, the ’Bows are struggling for the right combination. They are hitting .243 with runners in scoring position and .204 with two outs. Christian Hoffman’s home run is the ’Bows’ only four-bagger in 303 at-bats.
Head coach Rich Hill said meetings and video sessions were scheduled to address the offensive concerns.
“That’s up to them,” Hill said of breaking out of a slump. “When you’re going through something like this — whether it be as a fielder, as a pitcher, as a baserunner, or as a hitter — I really believe the best remedy is time. That’s time spent with coaches, teammates and one-on-one time. There’s been some reflection. There’s been some video breakdown. We’re going through individual meetings with our hitters right now, just addressing all the statistics, identifying some of the problem areas and then the process that it takes to shore that up.”
Hill added: “I’ve had guys give me their bad swings, give me their good swings. We’re talking about posture. The main thing that it does is it gives players a chance to kind of exhale, and feel it’s kind of a fresh start at this point of the season.”
But Hill is optimistic the hitting will improve.
“The hitting has always come around wherever I’ve been,” Hill said, “and it will this time. But there’s no magic dust that you can say as a coach or sprinkle on hitters to help them gain confidence. You just go to work. You just show up and you put in the time. You keep cracking rocks. Eventually you’re cracking 50 times and on that 51st one, it breaks. That’s the mentality we’re in right now.”
The ’Bows are expected to use an ensemble cast of pitchers against the Sharks. Derek Valdez is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 6:35 p.m. But similar to a weekday game against Chaminade two weeks ago, the ’Bows will go with their usual starting lineup.
“We get an opportunity to play against a team that’s going to be very hungry,” said Hill, whose ’Bows usually schedule intrasquad scrimmages during the week. “We need to figure some things out, obviously, offensively. It’s much better for us to face quality pitching than an (intrasquad) game or take (batting practice) again for the millionth time. We’re excited about competing.”
Hill also has seen competition from the other side. When he coached Cal Lutheran, an NAIA school at the time, there were battles against Division I opponents.
“It was huge,” Hill said. “At Cal Lutheran, we went up and beat UC Santa Barbara. We beat USC, Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine. We did it all the time. Back then, you could do that — Division II, NAIA — we all played, it seemed, like a hundred games. … I was at Cal Lutheran as a player and coach. It’s dangerous for a Division I team. I’ve seen the ghost. As long as I’m the coach here, we will be absolutely on fire when we play Hilo, HPU and Chaminade. Maybe those coaches are hoping we’re going to play our substitute guys, and all that kind of stuff, and take a break. No way. We’re gonna get after it, we’re gonna go after those guys because I respect them, and I know they can beat, really, anybody in the country.”
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Returning to Les Murakami Stadium after a two-week road trip, the Rainbow Warriors are hopeful of improving their hitting when they play host to Hawaii Pacific.
While UH’s pitching has been exemplary (sixth nationally with a 2.97 ERA), the offense has not been complementary. In nine Big West games, the ’Bows are last among 11 teams with a collective slash of .208/.311/.267.
Despite 22 different lineups in as many games, the ’Bows are struggling for the right combination. They are hitting .243 with runners in scoring position and .204 with two outs. Christian Hoffman’s home run is the ’Bows’ only four-bagger in 303 at-bats.
Head coach Rich Hill said meetings and video sessions were scheduled to address the offensive concerns.
“That’s up to them,” Hill said of breaking out of a slump. “When you’re going through something like this — whether it be as a fielder, as a pitcher, as a baserunner, or as a hitter — I really believe the best remedy is time. That’s time spent with coaches, teammates and one-on-one time. There’s been some reflection. There’s been some video breakdown. We’re going through individual meetings with our hitters right now, just addressing all the statistics, identifying some of the problem areas and then the process that it takes to shore that up.”
Hill added: “I’ve had guys give me their bad swings, give me their good swings. We’re talking about posture. The main thing that it does is it gives players a chance to kind of exhale, and feel it’s kind of a fresh start at this point of the season.”
But Hill is optimistic the hitting will improve.
“The hitting has always come around wherever I’ve been,” Hill said, “and it will this time. But there’s no magic dust that you can say as a coach or sprinkle on hitters to help them gain confidence. You just go to work. You just show up and you put in the time. You keep cracking rocks. Eventually you’re cracking 50 times and on that 51st one, it breaks. That’s the mentality we’re in right now.”
The ’Bows are expected to use an ensemble cast of pitchers against the Sharks. Derek Valdez is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 6:35 p.m. But similar to a weekday game against Chaminade two weeks ago, the ’Bows will go with their usual starting lineup.
“We get an opportunity to play against a team that’s going to be very hungry,” said Hill, whose ’Bows usually schedule intrasquad scrimmages during the week. “We need to figure some things out, obviously, offensively. It’s much better for us to face quality pitching than an (intrasquad) game or take (batting practice) again for the millionth time. We’re excited about competing.”
Hill also has seen competition from the other side. When he coached Cal Lutheran, an NAIA school at the time, there were battles against Division I opponents.
“It was huge,” Hill said. “At Cal Lutheran, we went up and beat UC Santa Barbara. We beat USC, Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine. We did it all the time. Back then, you could do that — Division II, NAIA — we all played, it seemed, like a hundred games. … I was at Cal Lutheran as a player and coach. It’s dangerous for a Division I team. I’ve seen the ghost. As long as I’m the coach here, we will be absolutely on fire when we play Hilo, HPU and Chaminade. Maybe those coaches are hoping we’re going to play our substitute guys, and all that kind of stuff, and take a break. No way. We’re gonna get after it, we’re gonna go after those guys because I respect them, and I know they can beat, really, anybody in the country.”
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