Rainbow baseball in a good place for next test
Mar. 3—The big chill ?
"It's a nice, balmy 20 degrees, " mused Hawaii baseball coach Rich Hill, whose Rainbow Warriors will play Minnesota in today's opening round of the three-day Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis. "Surf weather. No wet suit."
The big chill ?
"It's a nice, balmy 20 degrees, " mused Hawaii baseball coach Rich Hill, whose Rainbow Warriors will play Minnesota in today's opening round of the three-day Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis. "Surf weather. No wet suit."
The games, of course, will be played in an enclosed facility—U.S. Bank Stadium, home to the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and time-share resident the University of Minnesota baseball team.
A 10-day, two-city road trip that concludes against the Big Ten's Minnesota, Nebraska and ninth-ranked Maryland ? "Our guys are ready to go 100 more miles, " Hill said.
Hill, who was born with the upbeat gene, has optimistically embraced the'Bows' search for the "answers to the test " during the pre-conference schedule. The 4-3'Bows won three of four against Wright State to open the season and went 1-2 in the Tony Gwynn Legacy in San Diego last week.
Hill noted right-handed pitcher Alex Giroux, who began his college career at Washington ; outfielder Jared Quandt ; and two-way player Ben Zeigler-Namoa have aced early tests. Giroux, who pitched five hitless innings against North Dakota State, has a 1.29 ERA and 0.57 WHIP while holding opponents to a.087 batting average. He has not allowed a batter to reach base with two outs.
Quandt, a switch-hitter, missed last season while recovering from a labrum injury in his left arm. But in six games—five starts—Quandt's slash line is.563 /.682 /1.188. "He's producing at a high level against really good competition, " Hill said of the third-year sophomore.
Zeigler-Namoa is hitting.389 and did not allow an earned run in his three-inning start. "He's stepping up, doing his thing, " Hill said.
UH projects to go with all left-handers this weekend—Harry Gustin (0-1, 9.00 ERA ) against Minnesota, Randy Abshier (0-0, 2.45 ) against Nebraska, and Harrison Bodendorf (1-0, 1.50 ) against Maryland.
Hill said left-handing pitching is always on the recruiting to-do list. "You definitely need that on your staff to neutralize some of the left-handed hitting, " Hill said. "We've made a concerted effort to recruit left-handers in this program."
There are 10 left-handers on the 19-pitcher staff.
"It's not the No. 1 criteria, " Hill said. "We want guys who are going to make bats miss and force weak contact and have all the analytical numbers that you want. But if they happen to be left-handed, that's a bigger bonus."
Gustin's bloated ERA, a byproduct of a season-opening struggle, belies his consistency in keeping the ball in play. He has induced an average 1.7 groundouts per inning.
On Monday, Bodendorf struck out six in 32 /3 innings against San Diego State. "Harrison Bodendorf has jumped up, " Hill said. "That was his college debut as a starter, in his hometown. It was good to see the mental toughness and productivity he gave us."
