Friday, March 12, 1999
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Sean Takamori slides into second with a stolen base
against St. Mary's earlier this season.
Takamori works
his way into
UH lineup
The walk-on outfielder won
By Al Chase
a starting job and has held on
to it with his steady play
Star-BulletinSean Takamori's career ambition is to become an orthopedic surgeon and work in the sports medicine field. But for now, he operates in the tricky winds that sweep across right field at Rainbow Stadium.
Takamori, a junior biology major, was a standout in baseball and football at Iolani School and decided to start college as a walk-on for the Washington Huskies football team. A cornerback, he redshirted his freshman year, then transferred back to Hawaii.
"I came home because I wanted to play baseball. I always dreamed about playing for UH, ever since I was little. This is the best place to play," Takamori said.
He joined the Rainbows as a walk-on in 1997 and spent that season and 1998 preparing himself for the opportunity that opened up this year. His playing time was limited (39 games, 36 at-bats, seven hits) mostly to pinch running or as a defensive replacement.
"Last fall the coaches explained to me that since I was one of the returning outfielders, I would be given a shot and I had to step up and earn the position. I think I did that in the fall," Takamori said.
"People forget this is almost his first year, but he just worked very, very hard and got better and better," Hawaii head coach Les Murakami said. "He forced us to keep him in the lineup. He's played well defensively and has good speed. If he didn't do well, we'd take him out."
As the Rainbows' leadoff batter, Takamori is hitting .365, leads the team with 27 hits, has drawn 13 walks and has been plunked five times. His on-base percentage (.498) is second only to No. 2 batter Michael Dartt (.500), giving UH's big hitters base runners to bring home.
Takamori began the season with a six-game hitting streak. Entering today's opener of a three-game Western Athletic Conference series with host San Jose State, he is riding an eight-game hitting streak (11-for-26, .423).
Yet, there are two aspects of his hitting he wants to improve.
"I have to cut down on my strikeouts and put the ball in play more," Takamori said. "I'm working with Coach Dave (Murakami) on being more consistent with the fast push bunt. I'm beginning to feel comfortable with that.
"What I've been pleased with is I've started off pretty aggressive on the base paths. That's the most fun for me. I really enjoy that."
Takamori leads the Rainbows and the WAC with 13 stolen bases in 16 attempts.
He also has found a comfort zone hitting from both sides of the plate. Like many other players entering the UH program who have good quickness and speed, Takamori was encouraged to try switch hitting. However, it wasn't until fall practice he was afforded the chance to do it repeatedly against live pitching.
"I'm actually feeling pretty comfortable batting left-handed," Takamori said. "I think I see the pitches better and it hasn't had an adverse effect on my batting right-handed."
If he continues to produce in the second half the way he has in the first half of the season, Takamori will deserve the scholarship the coaches have promised next year.
Family genes His brother, Ryan, is the starting first baseman for Iolani as a sophomore. "He's bigger them me and he might be better." Sean Takamori
Prized possession A baseball autographed by Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners. "He's kind of my idol."
WAC
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Rice 3 0 1.000 1/2 20 4 .833 San Diego St. 3 0 1.000 1/2 13 10 .565 San Jose St. 3 0 1.000 1/2 12 9 .568 Nevada-Las Vegas 3 0 1.000 1/2 9 13 .409 Texas Christian 5 1 .833 -- 11 10 .524 Brigham Young 4 3 .571 1-1/2 9 12 .429 Hawaii 2 4 .333 3 15 6 .714 Fresno St. 1 5 .167 4 12 14 .462 New Mexico 1 5 .167 4 8 16 .340 Utah 0 3 .000 3-1/2 10 10 .500 Air Force 0 3 .000 3-1/2 9 12 .429New Mexico and San Jose St. played a nonconference tie game.
Today's games
Hawaii at San Jose State
Air Force vs. North Dakota State
Brigham Young at Nevada-Las Vegas
New Mexico vs. Gonzaga
Fresno State vs. North Carolina
Oral Roberts at Texas Christian
Rice at San Diego State
Utah at Southern Utah
Hawaii at San Jose State
Air Force vs. Indiana
Brigham Young at Nevada-Las Vegas
New Mexico vs. TBA
Fresno State vs. TBA
Oral Roberts at Texas Christian
Rice at San Diego State
Utah at Southern Utah
Hawaii at San Jose State
Air Force vs. Lafayette
Oral Roberts at Texas Christian
Rice at San Diego State
Hawaii Rainbows statistics
Season record: Overall 15-6, WAC 2-4
Bat. Slug. G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI Avg. TB Pct. BB SO SB James Polk 6 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 .500 1 .500 0 0 0 Lane Nogawa 6 15 5 7 1 0 0 7 .467 8 .533 1 4 0 Scooter Martines 14 59 7 23 2 0 1 15 .390 28 .475 2 10 0 Michael Dartt 16 54 11 20 3 1 0 11 .370 25 .463 12 9 7 Sean Takamori 21 74 18 27 1 1 0 12 .365 30 .405 13 16 13 Lars Hansen 18 58 11 20 5 1 0 11 .345 27 .466 3 9 1 Derek Honma 10 6 2 2 0 1 0 2 .333 4 .667 1 0 0 Kramer Aoki 6 6 2 2 0 1 0 1 .333 4 .667 1 1 0 Jamie Aloy 18 65 19 20 6 1 0 9 .308 28 .431 8 22 0 Lon Tanigawa 4 7 3 2 0 1 0 1 .286 4 .571 0 1 0 Darin Baker 14 36 9 10 1 1 0 7 .278 13 .361 5 12 0 Tracy Nakano 17 40 7 11 4 0 1 10 .275 18 .450 16 6 0 Kenn Wakakuwa 21 82 16 21 3 0 0 12 .256 24 .293 6 13 3 Rah-Miel Mitchell 2 25 5 6 0 0 0 6 .240 6 .240 9 5 3 Wakon Childers 5 13 1 3 0 0 0 1 .231 3 .231 1 1 0 Matt Wheeler 18 61 10 14 0 2 0 7 .230 18 .295 7 14 0 Corey Miller 21 59 11 13 2 0 0 6 .220 15 .254 14 12 3 Wade Taguchi 5 11 2 2 0 0 0 0 .182 2 .182 1 3 0 Jeremy Stegmaier 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 .000 0 2 0 Rory Pico 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 .000 2 1 0 Jason Castro 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 .000 0 0 0 Hawaii Totals 21 681 139 204 28 10 2 121 .300 258 .379 102 141 30 Opponent Totals 21 709 79 176 36 12 4 72 .248 248 .350 61 145 11Left on base: Hawaii 175. Opponents 155. Double Plays: Hawaii 18, Opponents 19. Triple Plays: Hawaii 1, Opponents 0.
Player G GS CG W L Pct. IP H BB SO R ER ERA Chad Giannetti 3 0 0 0 0 .000 2.1 1 1 2 0 0 0.00 Ikaika Baptista 1 0 0 0 0 .000 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 Randon Ho 7 7 0 4 2 .667 43.1 33 15 42 12 7 1.45 Ian Jones 13 0 0 0 0 .000 13.2 6 5 9 3 3 1.98 Patrick McNair 2 1 0 0 0 .000 4.0 4 4 3 2 1 2.25 Rich Snider 15 0 0 1 1 .500 17.1 16 6 12 6 5 2.60 Gavin Garrick 7 0 0 0 0 .000 6.1 3 2 3 2 2 2.84 Troy Yoshimasu 6 6 0 4 0 1.000 29.1 22 13 13 11 10 3.07 Jamie Aloy 7 7 1 4 3 .571 45.1 46 5 36 20 16 3.18 Dusty Bergman 6 0 0 0 0 .000 8.0 10 3 7 3 3 3.38 Wakon Childers 6 0 0 1 0 1.000 5.1 11 1 9 3 3 5.06 Aaron Pribble 5 0 0 0 0 .000 4.0 7 0 5 3 3 6.75 Ken Mackenzie 5 0 0 1 0 1.000 3.0 10 1 0 7 3 9.00 Sean Yamashita 6 0 0 0 0 .000 6.1 6 5 4 7 7 9.95 Hawaii Totals 21 1 15 6 .714 189.1 176 61 145 54 63 2.99 Opponent Totals 21 2 6 15 .286 177.0 204 102 141 124 107 5.44Saves (6): Snider 6. Opponents 2.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Total Hawaii 15 18 14 33 17 8 16 13 2 2 1 -- 139 Opponents 3 7 9 13 15 9 7 10 3 1 2 -- 79
