Kahuku Back In Business With Return Of Full Lineup

Wednesday - April 02, 2008
By Jack Danilewicz
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As his team approaches the midway point of its regular season, Kahuku baseball coach Steve Van Ness can’t help but like the Red Raiders’ position.

While eligibility issues left them short-handed through their first four games of the season, including key encounters with league-leaders Waipahu and Kalaheo, the Red Raiders are still very much in the mix in the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s White Conference.

“We have a lot of potential,“said Van Ness, whose team took a 3-2 record into the weekend.“Even with an undermanned team, we were in both games against Waipahu and Kalaheo. We weren’t disappointed. We were happy to be in both games. In the White, if any one of us has two or three starters out, it’s difficult to be the better team. We feel like we’ll be fine when we get everyone back. Teams that have played us will see a completely different team next time.”


Van Ness was expecting to have his entire lineup back this week, when the Red Raiders will begin preparing for next Tuesday’s home game against Farrington (3:30 p.m.). Kahuku was to play Radford on Monday in its most recent outing. The Red Raiders were seeking their third win in their last four games when they played the Rams, with recent runaway wins versus Waialua (29-5) and Kaimuki (17-9) on their resume of late.(Kahuku’s third conference win - over Nanakuli - came by way of forfeit.) While encouraged by his team’s offensive showing in those games, the fate of Kahuku’s season is tied to its defensive play, in Van Ness’s view.

“Defense will be a big key,“he said. “There hasn’t been a game where we’ve had a bad pitching performance. I think our pitchers can hold people down if we play good defense and we don’t have a lot of walks. We’ve missed some routine plays because of inexperience, but our rookies are doing the best that they can.”

Van Ness’s son Steven and nephew R.J. Van Ness lead the Kahuku pitching staff and should play big roles as the Red Raiders gear up for the post-season.

R. J. Earned the win against Kaimuki recently when he scattered seven hits over seven innings in recording a complete game. For his part, Steven Van Ness was nothing less than stellar in Kahuku’s 6-3 loss to Waipahu on March 22, having given up only two hits. “Steven pitched real well,” Steve Van Ness said of his son. “We had about six errors, which is tough to overcome.”


Both Steven Van Ness and R.J.Van Ness have figured big in Kahuku’s offensive explosion of late as well. R.J. Van Ness went 3-for-4 with a home run against Kaimuki, while Steven Van Ness went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.Jordan Kamae and Kekoa Hughes also had big days for the Red Raiders vs.the Bulldogs with four hits apiece, the latter adding a home run and a triple along the way.

Balance throughout its lineup will be another key for the Red Raiders in the coming days,according to Van Ness.

“Against Kalaheo (in a 7-5 loss on March 12), our No. 1 (batter in the lineup), No. 2 and No. 3 hitters went 0-for-11,” Van Ness recalled. “All of our production came from our No. 4, (No.) 5 and (No.) 6. That can’t happen again. That’s why we lost the game. Our No. 1, (No.) 2, and (No.) 3 didn’t find the holes.”

Kahuku’s second regular-season meeting with Kalaheo, which was originally scheduled to be played on Wednesday, will now be played on Tuesday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. at Kailua District Park.

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