New Coach Cultivates Trojan Skills During Summer Leagu

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Jacob Matsukawa of Mililani steals second base during the seventh inning of an American Legion League baseball game against Aiea at Mililani High School. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Mililani’s slate of 20 American Legion League baseball games is all about maximizing attention to detail, according to head coach Mark Hirayama.

“We’re not so worried about wins and losses this summer, as we are trying to continue to build a foundation,” explained Hirayama. “Every day is key for us - especially with the limited time we have with the kids. We want to build on each day. There are so many things we need to keep working on. If you want to play with the best, you have to do the little things right.”

Hirayama went 11-8 overall in his first Trojan season this spring, including a stellar 5-2 post-season record. Mililani won three of four at the OIA Tournament to finish fifth and won two of three at the state tournament.

In a year when parity was more evident than ever in prep baseball, their post-season run was one to build on, although Hirayama lost several key players from that team and finds himself in the “regroup” mode.

“We lost some key pitchers to graduation, but we have three young guys coming up that will hopefully give us a big boost. We have to fill in our middle infield and find someone who can play second and shortstop (steadily). We look good behind the plate with a couple of veterans back there, and we have two returnees on the corners and one starter back in the out-field, but there’s enough talent coming back that we should be OK.”

Mililani was 3-6 as it approached the halfway point in ALL late last week. The top eight teams make the playoffs, so he expects the Trojans to have to be at least above .500 to make the cut.

The post-season begins July 26. “We’ll need to win a few more ball games, but it’s not as important as the work we do every day.”

As part of the plan, Hirayama also entered a 15-and-under team from Mililani into the ALL to draw incoming freshmen to campus sooner.With the JV season now played in the fall, summer can serve as a good lead-in for kids wanting to jump-start their prep career.

Also among Hirayama’s summer priorities is to improve the mental game.

“We’ve put it on our older guys to understand the game a little better themselves and help to teach the younger players. Kids have so many other things that they can do nowadays that they don’t know the game as well as maybe they did 10 or 15 years ago. We want them to be able to make adjustments on their own.

“Baseball is not black and white. There is a lot of gray area.”

Mililani returns to action this week with three games. They host Punahou at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday; meet Leilehua at 9 a.m. Friday at Hans L’Orange Field, which is also the site for a 9 a.m. game Sunday v. Saint Louis.