Hawai'i connection revives BYU baseball program

Center fielder Doug Jackson, assistant coach David "Boy" Eldredge and third baseman Kainoa Obrey are Hawai'i's gifts to a title-contending Brigham Young University baseball team. Mark Philbrick • Brigham Young

Advertiser Staff

Brigham Young University leads Mountain West Conference baseball with five games left and is likely to be the No. 1 seed in the conference championship tournament.

Two years ago, the once-proud Cougar baseball program had hit bottom. BYU had a losing record for the first time in 39 years and finished last in its conference for the first time.

The catalysts in the Cougars' rocket ride back into championship contention this year, like some of the other legends in the program's history, were bred in Hawai'i.

Cougar assistant coach David "Boy" Eldredge, scion of Hawai'i's best-known baseball family, says he was talking with a BYU old-timer in 1999 about what the struggling team lacked.

"We lack that fire," the old-timer told Eldredge. "You Hawai'i boys used to give us that fire." (Boy Eldredge was an All-WAC catcher for BYU, graduating in 1984. His uncle, Pal, the TV commentator for University of Hawai'i games, also caught for BYU from 1966-68.)

Eldredge asked for and received permission to go to Hawai'i and recruit. The pair he came back with — 1999 Iolani graduates Kainoa Obrey and Doug Jackson of Kailua — have ignited a raging bonfire.

Jackson (.401) ranks No. 2 and Obrey (.374) is No. 3 in conference batting averages. Obrey is in the top six in five conference offensive categories, including home runs with nine. Jackson is fifth in NCAA Division I in triples with seven.

But even more valuable than their statistics, Eldredge says, is that "local (Hawai'i) boys are fighters, they go after it, and their fighting spirit has infected the rest of the team."

"We had guys who could play," Eldredge said, "but it almost seemed like when they got into tight situations, they kinda folded. We needed competitive people."

"Both of them have done extremely well in clutch situations, especially in the second half of the season" when BYU has won 12 of its past 15 games to shoot past San Diego State into the league lead.

Obrey has been nominated for conference Player of the Week three times and has raised his batting average nearly 100 points. "I'm just sitting back, waiting and finding the pitch I want," he said.

On April 16, Obrey hit a grand slam off former Iolani teammate Marvin Wong of New Mexico.

Jackson was converted into a switch-hitter by Eldredge and has raised his batting average 90 points. He had a 5-for-5 game against Air Force and has been especially effective batting from the left (new) side.

"They are quiet leaders," Eldredge said. "The PA system at home plays Hawaiian music while they get to the plate and then they get their job done."

Jackson's picture is on the wall of honor in the athletic department for students with grade point averages of 3.5 and above.

Jackson is all business on the field and in the classroom, "but he's just like a kid the rest of the time," Eldredge said. "My kids (age 9 and 7) love D.J. He's got them into 'Dragon Ball Z' on the Cartoon Network and plays ball and Nintendo with them."

CHANGE UPS: Catcher Apana Nakayama of Moloka'i, last year's state high school Player of the Year, is at a nearby junior college and poised to join BYU next season. . . . Boy Eldredge eased up on his Hawai'i recruiting this season because he is a candidate to replace retiring Les Murakami at Hawai'i, and could not promise recruits he would still be at Provo when they arrived. But he said he has not heard anything from UH since his interview on Jan. 26. . . . Kainoa Obrey won honorable mention freshman All-America last season. He is in the conference top six in average, hits, doubles (16), homers (nine) and total bases.