Rainbow baseball team safe at home

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

When Matt Inouye takes the baseball field this season, he'll feel closer to home.

Sophomore Matt Inouye, a freshman All-America outfielder last season, will be behind the plate a lot this season for the University of Hawai'i. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser UH baseball preview The Advertiser will preview the University of Hawai‘i baseball team in a series of stories. Here is the lineup: Yesterday: Outfielders Today: Catchers Tomorrow: Infielders Sunday: Pitchers

"I've always kind of favored it over outfield," Inouye said of catching. "I feel a lot more comfortable behind the plate than in the outfield."

Inouye, along with California transfer Creighton Kahoali'i and redshirt freshman Steve Bell-Irving, fill the vacancy left by Brian Bock, who signed with the Baltimore Orioles after his final season of eligibility with the Rainbows last season. Bock was drafted in the 14th round.

Ironically, catching is relatively new to Inouye. The 2002 Mid-Pacific Institute graduate spent his intermediate and junior varsity seasons playing the infield and outfield. One day during his junior year on the varsity, there was no one to catch at practice.

Inouye said he volunteered.

"I don't know what it was," he recalled. "It just felt good back there."

So good that he earned Advertiser All-State first-team honors his senior year. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 41st round, but chose to take the UH scholarship.

After biding his time on the bench last season, he pretty much forced coach Mike Trapasso's hand. After a number of successful pinch-hitting and spot-starting performances, Inouye was inserted into the starting lineup. His ability to play the outfield made it that much easier.

Trapasso feels Inouye has the strongest arm among catchers in the Western Athletic Conference. Baseball America's WAC preview lists Nevada's Brett Hayes, but that might be because Inouye did not play enough games behind the plate to showcase his arm. Inouye feels his game is not yet complete.

"I have to work on my receiving, getting more pitches for the pitchers called strikes, rather than balls (because of) bringing balls out of the (strike) zone. (It's) not really framing, but catching the ball where it is and letting the umpire decide."

Volunteer assistant Keith Komeiji, a former professional catcher, said Inouye's improvement will come with more game experience.

BELL-IRVING

KAHOALI'I

Inouye played for the Mat-Su Miners of the Alaska Summer League, where he batted .247, but led his club with 25 RBIs.

While Inouye feels at home behind the plate, Kahoali'i feels good about being in the home state of his grandparents.

The Northern California native transferred to UH after three seasons at Cal Berkeley. Although he has no relatives on O'ahu, he does have some on the Big Island. And if the name sounds familiar to Big Islanders, his sister, Kristine, was a pitcher for the UH-Hilo softball team. Her eligibility ended last season.

"She had a really good career there," Kahoali'i said of his sister, who was 6-8 with a 2.63 ERA last season. "I hope I can kind of do the same thing here. She kind of set the tone for the name. At least people know the name because of what she did. That makes it a lot easier on me."

His career at Cal wasn't looking promising, so he decided to leave.

Since Inouye and Bell-Irving are in their second collegiate seasons, Kahoali'i provides some experience behind the plate, even though his playing time at Cal was brief.

"He played in the Pac-10, where the competition is good," Komeiji said. "For him, he brings us senior leadership."

Komeiji is pleased with the progress of Bell-Irving, who played in a summer league in Seattle.

"Bell-Irving has come a long way," Komeiji said. "He caught a lot of games over the summer. He improved a lot from last year."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.

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