[ UH BASEBALL ]
Estrella’s Vulcans
keeping an eye
on Colorado
The Hawaii-Hilo Vulcan baseball team will play a 52-game schedule in 2004 and have the extra incentive of participating in the first United States Baseball Conference Tournament at Greeley, Colo.
Coach Joey Estrella has lined up nine NCAA Division I opponents who account for 44 of those games. The other eight games are against longtime instate rival, Division II Hawaii Pacific.
The Vulcans open with seven games against Kansas, then have six vs. Tony Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs followed by four games with HPU, then a weekend trip to Les Murakami Stadium for three games with the Rainbows.
The other D-I teams are UCLA, Western Illinois, UC Riverside, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Sacramento State and Northern Colorado.
"Kansas spent a lot of time nationally ranked last year, San Diego comes in under Tony Gwynn and UC Riverside went to the regionals last year," said Estrella who is in his 27th season as UHH head coach. "The schedule may not be as difficult as last year, but that gives us a little more breathing room."
There was an attempt to hold the USBC tournament last year in the Chicago area, but plans were never finalized due to financial reasons.
The schools participating along with UHH and Northern Colorado are New York Tech and Pace University of Pleasantville, N.Y., all independents.
There is a possibility that Utah Valley State will join the fold according to Northern Colorado baseball coach Kevin Smallcomb.
The long-term goal of the conference is to gain an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"The NCAA says you need six teams in a conference for two years, then you an apply for automatic qualifying status," said Smallcomb. "I'm really excited about hosting this tournament. This could be a starting point. If an independent team wins 35 or 40 games, then this tournament might get them into the NCAA Tournament.
"We'll have a conference call from the baseball coaches convention in January with some other schools that have expressed an interest."
"Even if it is a pseudo conference, it gives the kids a chance for player of the week honors, statistics and it adds some flavor to the season," said Estrella who was pleased with the Vulcans fall practice.
"We're in so much better shape. The attitude is so much more optimistic with (new assistant coach) Brendan Sagara on board and Dave Miller back from playing independent ball. It has been a good fall. We want to get started."
Estrella also announced the early signing of two players for the 2005 season. They are Mark Veneri, a left-handed pitcher from Punahou, and Dennis Gonsalves Jr., a right-hander from West High School in Torrance, Calif.
2004 Schedule
January
16: Kansas (2), 4 p.m. 17: Kansas, 1 p.m. 18: Kansas, 1 p.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 19: Kansas (2), 11 a.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 20: Kansas, 6 p.m. 23: San Diego State, 6 p.m.. 24: San Diego State (2), 1 p.m. 25: San Diego State (2), 11 a.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 26: San Diego State, noon, Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 31: Hawaii Pacific (2), noon.
February
1: Hawaii Pacific (2), 11 a.m. 20: at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m. 21: at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m. 22: at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m. 26: UCLA, 6 p.m. 27: UCLA, 3 p.m. 28: UCLA, 1 p.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 29: UCLA, 11 a.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona.
March
6: Western Illinois, 1 p.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 7: Western Illinois, noon, Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 9: Western Illinois (2), 11 a.m. 10: Western Illinois (2), 4 p.m. 26: UC Riverside (2), noon. 27: UC Riverside, 6 p.m. 28: UC Riverside, noon.
April
1: Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (2), 4 p.m. 2: Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, 4 p.m. 3: Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (2), 11 a.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 4: Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, 9 a.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 9: Sacramento State (2), 2 p.m. 10: Sacramento State (2), 11 a.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 11: Sacramento State, 2 p.m., Simmons Field, Kailua-Kona. 24: at Hawaii Pacific (2), 4 p.m. 25: at Hawaii Pacific (2), noon.
May
17: at Northern Colorado. 18: at Northern Colorado. 20-22: United States Baseball Conference Tournament at Greeley, Colo.Home games at Francis Wong Stadium, Hilo, unless noted.