Wichita St. brings Wichita State is in town. Every time the Shockers have made the trip across the Pacific Ocean since 1980, they have provided the Rainbows with an excellent baseball test.
solid test to Hawaii
The Shockers’ successful history
includes a Rainbow connectionBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
The Shockers have continued to visit the islands every odd year since 1981. They have been a national power almost from the day Gene Stephenson revived a dormant program in 1977. Twenty NCAA tournament appearances, seven trips to the College World Series and one national championship attest to the success Wichita State has enjoyed under Stephenson.
Who: Hawaii vs. Wichita State UH Baseball
When: Tomorrow, Saturday, 6:35 p.m.; Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
Where: Murakami Stadium
TV: Live, KFVE, Ch. 5
Radio: Live, KKEA, 1420-AM
Tickets: $6 Orange, Blue levels; $5 Red level; $4 seniors, children age 4-18, UH students in the Red level
Parking: $3
His long-time assistant, pitching coach Brent Kemnitz, made recruiting overtures to Mike Trapasso when the Hawaii coach was in his second season at Jefferson Junior College.
"They talked to me, but I never took a visit there," said Trapasso, who narrowed his choices to Arkansas and Oklahoma State before signing with the Cowboys, who were in the middle of seven consecutive CWS appearances and the other power in the Midwest at that time.
However, Kemnitz did not forget Trapasso. He recruited the UH coach to pitch for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots during the summer of 1984.
"I'll tell you, Trap knew how to pitch in the true sense of the word. He was capable of throwing three pitches for strikes. He was the kind of guy a pitching coach likes to have on his staff," said Kemnitz.
"We had Randy Johnson on that team. Mark Gardner, who played in the majors, and Mike Batesole, the coach at Fresno State, were on that team. I gave guys like Trap a hard time so they would make it to the big time and I'm still doing the same thing."
As a senior, Trapasso picked up a win and a save against the Shockers in the regional at Oklahoma State.
"Brent is a classy person. He saw me after the game (that eliminated WSU), and said something to the effect that if they had to lose he was glad it was to us because my catcher, Mike Day, also played for Anchorage," said Trapasso. "Brent is one of the best pitching coaches I ever had, but more importantly, he is a great person, someone you loved playing for. And, the truth is, I didn't throw that well that summer."
Trapasso never really got to know Stephenson, but admires him as a coach for what he has accomplished.
They get to match strategy in three games this weekend, the end of a 10-game trip for Wichita State.
"It's a good year for us to come to Hawaii because we need some seasoning. I think each day we have improved a little bit," said Stephenson, who is recovering from a skiing accident.
"We were pretty good last year, but everyone thinks we're going to be poor this year because we lost six juniors to the pro draft. That took away our leadership and we only have two position players back, but our pitching is OK.
"I like this team a lot because of its makeup and versatility. We're down in the polls and rightfully so, but we will be a lot better two months from now."
Trapasso will go with the same three starting pitchers he used against UCLA and Sacramento State.
Note: Stephenson was on a skiing trip to Colorado recently, the first time he had been on the slopes in eight years and the first time he used the shorter, newer type of ski.
"I had been out about five hours, was feeling really good, decided to take on a slope that 15 years before I wasn't able to get down. It was there and I wanted to do it," said Stephenson. "I must have been thinking I was Jean-Claude Killy (winner of three skiing gold medals in the 1968 Winter Olympics).
Stephenson negotiated the first half of the run, then hit the steepest part, which was covered with man-made snow and icy.
"I lost my skis, broke the poles, lost the bindings and just started rolling faster and faster. I could see trees coming up, but couldn't stop. I went into the trees and was unconscious. If someone above hadn't seen me, I might still be there. I'm lucky to be alive," Stephenson said.
It took five rescue workers an hour to get him out from where he landed. He suffered a concussion, cuts, a torn medial collateral ligament, a torn anterior ligament and a fracture of the tibia in his left leg.
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