Hawaii is in a good baseball conference with the Big West. The Warriors have gone 19-11 and 18-12 in the league with Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, Irvine, Fullerton and Long Beach State. CSUN has also been pretty solid. Now the bottom of it is awful but still it's not a nothing league. Rich Hill has been at Hawaii for those two seasons after 22 years at San Diego. The guy knows where to coach in excellent weather.
Hawaii finished No. 76 in the NET last season at 29-20 overall, so it's not a schedule issue at all. Between the Warriors and Iowa, the non-SEC metrics are ok. Not great, not terrible. Vandy swept Hawaii out there last year and took two of three from the Warriors in Nashville.
Hawaii returns six of their top seven pitchers from last season and six starters at positions. The staff led the Big West in team ERA last year. Tonight's starter is lefty Harrison Bodendorf. He had a 3.45 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 57 innings a year ago, getting five saves. He started six games out of 21 appearances. He's only gone five innings once, a 5-inning, 4-run, 2-earned run start against Fullerton.
Tomorrow's game one starter is 2023 Arizona transfer Randy Abshier -- 4.29 ERA, 71.1 innings, 69 strikeouts, 23 walks, .235 BAA last season. He was much better at home with 49 strikeouts in 42 innings and a 2.98 ERA. The park there is weird. The dimensions are small, but the ball doesn't carry out of there. Someone help me with why, whether it's a marine layer or wind or ocean or what. Abshier threw a complete game shutout against Long Beach but was typically around five innings per start.
Hawaii is TBA the other two games. The closer is back in lefty (noticing a theme) Connor Harrison, but the bullpen is a major question beyond that.
It's an older team which is usually a good thing in college baseball. Obviously it means not many draft guys which is bad, but they've played a lot of baseball. Seniors at catcher, second base, shortstop and third base.
Offensively, it beats me. That league isn't very offensive, and Hawaii plays in that vacuum out there. They only hit 36 home runs and gave up only 28. .790 team OPS and .758 opponent OPS. By comparison, Ole Miss had a team OPS of .861 and opponent OPS of .865. Ole Miss hit 83 home runs and gave up 98.
Ole Miss is supposed to win this series, obviously, but it's a nice opening test. Frankly, it's testing the issues from last year. If you don't walk offensively and throw strikes on the mound and play defense, they can fundamental you to death. If you play well, the talent difference will win the games.
Hawaii finished No. 76 in the NET last season at 29-20 overall, so it's not a schedule issue at all. Between the Warriors and Iowa, the non-SEC metrics are ok. Not great, not terrible. Vandy swept Hawaii out there last year and took two of three from the Warriors in Nashville.
Hawaii returns six of their top seven pitchers from last season and six starters at positions. The staff led the Big West in team ERA last year. Tonight's starter is lefty Harrison Bodendorf. He had a 3.45 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 57 innings a year ago, getting five saves. He started six games out of 21 appearances. He's only gone five innings once, a 5-inning, 4-run, 2-earned run start against Fullerton.
Tomorrow's game one starter is 2023 Arizona transfer Randy Abshier -- 4.29 ERA, 71.1 innings, 69 strikeouts, 23 walks, .235 BAA last season. He was much better at home with 49 strikeouts in 42 innings and a 2.98 ERA. The park there is weird. The dimensions are small, but the ball doesn't carry out of there. Someone help me with why, whether it's a marine layer or wind or ocean or what. Abshier threw a complete game shutout against Long Beach but was typically around five innings per start.
Hawaii is TBA the other two games. The closer is back in lefty (noticing a theme) Connor Harrison, but the bullpen is a major question beyond that.
It's an older team which is usually a good thing in college baseball. Obviously it means not many draft guys which is bad, but they've played a lot of baseball. Seniors at catcher, second base, shortstop and third base.
Offensively, it beats me. That league isn't very offensive, and Hawaii plays in that vacuum out there. They only hit 36 home runs and gave up only 28. .790 team OPS and .758 opponent OPS. By comparison, Ole Miss had a team OPS of .861 and opponent OPS of .865. Ole Miss hit 83 home runs and gave up 98.
Ole Miss is supposed to win this series, obviously, but it's a nice opening test. Frankly, it's testing the issues from last year. If you don't walk offensively and throw strikes on the mound and play defense, they can fundamental you to death. If you play well, the talent difference will win the games.
