Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
For the University of Hawaii baseball team, moneyball begins with a dollar bill.
Each game, coach Rich Hill tapes a dollar on the dugout wall, a symbolic gesture of the Rainbow Warriors’ buck-stops-here mind-set.
“You go to the fair with your parents,” Hill said. “You’re a little kid, trying to throw a ping-pong ball into the fishbowl or a dart to hit the balloon or something. … I give my daughter one dollar, and she misses it, and kind of looks up to you with puppy-dog eyes like, ‘Can I have another dollar?’ I’m like, ‘OK, try again.’ And it keeps going for about five bucks. We’ve got one dollar. Our mentality is, ‘Hey, your dad, your mom’s not gonna give you a dollar to do it again. There’s no one coming to save you, all right? Don’t save anything for the swim back.’”
The corresponding game number is written on the bill. After each game, graduate manager Grady Miller places the dollar and the box score in a scrapbook. The collective wish is one day these ’Bows will reminisce about the time they secured the first winning Big West season in the program’s history. Now in their 10th season of Big West membership, the ’Bows’ best was 12-12 in 2015 and 2016. The ’Bows are 15-9 with six Big West games remaining, beginning with tonight’s opener of a three-game series against UC San Diego in La Jolla, Calif.
The Tritons are in the second year of a transition from Division II to Division I. Unlike in men’s basketball, the baseball games against the Tritons count toward the league standings. Hill, who coached at the nearby University of San Diego for 23 years, said his focus is solely on tonight’s game.
“The tsunami might come tomorrow,” Hill said. “I might get bitten by a shark in the femoral artery and bleed out. I might not get a chance to coach tomorrow. It’s just this one-game season every time. Back to Friday, it’s no more important than any other game. I just want to win it. I want to win every game.”
After going 3-9 on Fridays, Hill moved right-handed pitcher Blaze Koali‘i Pontes’ usual start up a day to tonight. In five starts, Pontes is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
Hill also has expressed confidence in Nainoa Cardinez, the lone remaining experienced catcher. In his first 24 games, Cardinez hit .067. In the four games after being elevated to No. 1 catcher following season-ending injuries to DallasJ Duarte and Blake Hiraki, Cardinez is 5-for-18 (.278) with six RBIs and a homer. He has allowed one steal and a passed ball during that span.
Cardinez appears to have benefited from a smaller roster that provides more playing time. Division I teams are allowed up to 35 players (with no more than 27 receiving baseball-related financial aid). With injuries and redshirting, the ’Bows have 24 players on the active roster.
In a recent conversation, Hill told Cardinez this is “where preparation meets opportunity.”
“There are countless stories of success when this moment happens in business and in sports,” Hill said. “He’s totally ready. He’s embracing the challenge. He’s got some big hits. He’s still a work in progress, and it’s a learning experience every day. But he’s so talented. He’s got that great arm. He’s very athletic for a big kid (6-2, 200). And he’s got tremendous power. The best thing about him is his character.”
Source: Star
