Division II logjam

The Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II baseball landscape is all too familiar.

The same four teams that have reached the BIIF Division II semifinals in each of the past two seasons — Hawaii Prep, Honokaa, Kamehameha-Hawaii and Konawaena — have reason to believe they can reach the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state tournament. Only two will get there, and a state berth will likely mean a hard-fought BIIF semifinal victory.

Defending BIIF Division II champion Konawaena, Honokaa and Kamehameha return most of their main contributors from a season ago. Graduation may have hit HPA a little harder, but Ka Makani ace Jayse Bannister is capable of shutting down the most potent of offenses when it matters most.

“It will come down to who’s better that day,” Kamehameha coach Andy Correa said when discussing the BIIF semifinals.

Below is a team-by-team BIIF Division II baseball preview, with teams listed in alphabetical order:

HAWAII PREP

c Manager: Jordan Hayslip (seventh season)

c 2011 BIIF record: 8-4 (lost to Konawaena 15-14 in BIIF final, 0-1 at HHSAA state tournament)

c Players to watch: Jayse Bannister (OF/1B/P, Sr.), Holden Pattengill (C/P, Sr.), Kama DeSilva (3B, So.), Kai Fink (1B, Sr.), Ian Rice (RF, So.)

c Between the lines: Ka Makani lost a mixture of power, speed and pitching by graduating six seniors from a team that made its second straight state tournament appearance.

“We have a lot of young guys on the team, but at the same time, our four upperclassmen are strong players,’’ Hayslip said.

One of the upperclassmen, Bannister, earned first-team honors as a first baseman, showing power in the middle of Ka Makani’s lineup. But the senior provides even more value on the mound as a hard-throwing left-hander. He earned the victory in HPA’s 13-4 win over Kamehameha in last year’s BIIF semifinals.

“He has very good control, he throws the ball with pretty good velocity, and he changes speeds well,’’ Hayslip said.

Pattengill, a right-hander, can also go deep into games on the mound as the team’s No. 2 starter, and the right-handed Fink will also see time on the mound.

Offensively, Hayslip will put Bannister “somewhere near the top” of the order this season. Bannister has batted in the leadoff spot during nonconference play.

Hayslip said sophomores Rice and Mike Nakahara have hit the ball well in the past two weeks. The HPA manager has also come away impressed with three freshmen in Koa Ellis (shortstop), Cyrus Inglis (second base) and D.J. Sekiya (outfield).

Meanwhile, the trio of DeSilva, and sophomores Zane Gray and Kalan Camero – who helped guide Ka Makani’s boys basketball team to its first BIIF title – are rounding into what Hayslip calls “baseball shape.’’

HONOKAA

c Manager: Matt Charbonneau (first season)

c 2011 BIIF record: 5-5 (lost to Konawaena 5-1 in BIIF Division II semifinals)

c Key players: Dylan Shiraki (P, Sr.), Joey Charbonneau (1B, Sr.), Haku Daniels (CF/3B, Sr.), Austin Jardine (C, So.), Damien Kaluhimoku (SS, Jr.), Lloyd Edwards (1B/3B, Sr.)

c Between the lines: Honokaa’s slogan for this season — new year, new look, new attitude — sums up what opponents will see this season.

The Dragons are sporting new uniforms, and the team’s coaching staff, which also includes assistant coach Mel Jardine and pitching coach John Holly, has incorporated a different approach to baseball — and stressed discipline and strong academics.

“We’re going to hit and run, we’re going to steal, manufacture runs and put pressure on the defense,’’ Matt Charbonneau said.

So far, the Dragons’ new year has shown promise, with the team going 3-3 in nonconference play while playing without ace pitcher Shiraki. Honokaa beat Kamehameha and Division I Kealakehe, and fell to BIIF heavyweights Waiakea and Konawaena in two tight two-run games.

Shiraki, who has an assortment of pitches and changes speeds well, gives the Dragons a better-than-average chance to win every time he toes the mound.

However, senior Makani Dias opened some eyes when he pitched 8 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball in Honokaa’s 1-0 win over Kamehameha in a Waiakea preseason tournament that took place Feb. 16-18.

“Some days he’s average, some days he’s lights out,’’ Matt Charbonneau said of Dias.

Edwards, a slugging infielder, will also see time as a starting pitcher.

Daniels, and sophomores Robert Abran and Ikena Juan, make up the bullpen, but Matt Charbonneau said Abran and Juan have the talent required to become starters in the future.

Matt Charbonneau called Daniels, the team’s No. 2 hitter in the Dragons’ lineup, the best all-around player on the team, saying he can bunt, hit for average and power, and field his position well in center field.

Last year’s center fielder, the fleet-footed Kaluhimoku, will move to shortstop because a three-year starter at that position, Joey Charbonneau, suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him at first base for a while.

Mel Jardine said the team wants Kaluhimoku to look at more pitches as a leadoff hitter.

In the cleanup spot, Austin Jardine has hit for power during nonconference play.

However, Matt Charbonneau said, the Dragons need to cut down on their errors in the field and increase their on-base percentage in order to succeed this year.

KAMEHAMEHA

c Manager: Andy Correa (seventh season)

c 2011 BIIF record: 7-3-1 (lost 13-4 to HPA in BIIF semifinals)

c Players to watch: Kaimana Moike (SS/3B/P, Sr.), Kupono Correa (2B, Sr.), Keanu Dudoit-Isa (C/1B, Sr.), Gideon Kalili (C/1B, Sr.), Nainoa Hart (OF, Sr.)

c Between the lines: If Kamehameha has an edge over any other Division II team this season, it comes in game experience.

In February, the Warriors played in 17 games, entering four tournaments and posting a 10-6-1 record. Kamehameha played a total of 17 games all of last season.

“It just gave us another season,’’ Andy Correa said. “In this last month, it helped us develop a lot of our players, a lot of our pitchers. Less practice and more games makes it fun for the kids.”

Moike and Kupuno Correa enter the season as solid No. 1 and No. 2 starters, respectively.

“(Moike) throws hard, he has good presence, and he erases mistakes by striking out people,’’ Andy Correa said.

Andy Correa said Kupono Correa doesn’t throw quite as hard but relies on his control and guile to get batters out.

The Kamehameha manager has a handful of other pitchers who can assume starting pitching responsibilities.

Besides Moike and Kupono Correa, Hart, junior Bronson Pulgados, sophomore Chay Toson and junior Kupono Decker have all pitched at least five innings in a single game this season, and a total of nine Warriors have toed the mound.

Toson pitched a complete game in a win over Kauai on the Garden Isle.

At the plate, Correa will lean on what he calls the “biggest senior class I’ve had here in three years.”

Dudoit-Isa has hit well out of the leadoff spot this season. Kupono Correa, Kalili, Moike and Hart round out the top five batters in Kamehameha’s batting order.

Kupono Correa, who hit .429 with 10 RBIs last season, has made the All-BIIF East Hawaii first team in each of the past two seasons. Hart drove in a team-high 18 runs last season, and the team received a big boost with the return of Kalili, who missed all of last season with a season-ending knee injury.

Andy Correa said the Warriors committed “too many errors for my taste” last season, but he said the team has improved defensively this season.

He raved about the team’s versatility, saying almost everybody on the team can play more than one position.

“Most everybody returns,’’ Andy Correa said. “We should be a little better defensively.”

KA‘U

c Manager: Cy Lopez (first season)

c 2011 BIIF record: 2-9 (lost to Honokaa 8-5 in BIIF tournament first-round game)

c Players to watch: Alika Kaopua (CF, Sr.), Royden Esperon (P/1B, Jr.), Daellan Kai (P/2B, Sr.), Kihei Serrao (SS, So.), James Dacalio (P, Sr.)

c Between the lines: The Trojans graduated seven seniors, including two durable pitchers in Dillin Ballo and Callen Koi.

But Lopez is excited about Esperon, who hasn’t played baseball since his Little League days.

“The boy has natural talent,”Lopez said. “He has a natural tail (to his fastball).”

Lopez has the 5-foot-4 Kai, the starting quarterback for the school’s football team, pegged as the team’s No. 2 starter.

“He’s got some heat for a little guy,” Lopez said.

Serrao, Dacalio, senior Tyler Atwood and freshman Anthony Emmsley will all have opportunities to pitch on a team with 19 players.

“All the kids have good heads, and they have good knowledge about baseball,” Lopez said.

Esperon also gives the team home-run power out of the cleanup spot, while Serrao, Dacalio and freshman Chisum Silva have also displayed potent bats.

But Lopez sees speed as the team’s strength. Kaopua, the Trojans’ No. 3 hitter and a standout on the team’s track and field team, has plenty of it. So does Serrao, Kai and senior catcher Marc Cuison, Lopez said.

But the Ka’u manager said the team must improve on its fundamentals — especially bunting — and its defense throughout the season.

KOHALA

c Manager: Pono Nakamura (first season)

c 2011 BIIF record: 1-7 (did not make BIIF tournament)

c Players to watch: Keanu Bruno (C, Sr.), Hookele Aiona (P/SS, Sr.), Kia Aveiro-Kalaniopio (P/SS, Sr.), Kona Tagalicod (DH/1B, Sr.), Mana Akima (CF, Sr.), Jeremiah Kanehailua (2B, Jr.)

c Between the lines: Nakamura takes over for his father, Steve, who managed Kohala for the past 13 seasons.

But the Cowboys won’t have to worry about an adjustment period.

The younger Nakamura served as an assistant coach for the past six seasons, and he plans on incorporating his father’s brand of baseball, which demands aggression on the basepaths.

“They know the philosophy of the game we want to play in Kohala,’’ Pono Nakamura said of his players.

Kohala has gone 2-17 in the past two seasons, but Nakamura sees more focus and intensity from a core group of six seniors he believes is hungry for success. Also, the Cowboys enter the season with 19 players after having just 13 last season.

“This year, I see that determination,’’ Nakamura said. “They’re not trying to go through the motions.”

Two of those seniors, Aiona and Aveiro-Kalaniopio, logged most of the innings on the mound for the Cowboys last year. So far, Nakamura likes the control Aiona has displayed.

“He’s real accurate,’’ Nakamura said. “He likes to hit the inside and outside corners.

“He mixes it up real good, and when he’s on top of his game, he’s going to be a tough one.”

Nakamura said Aveiro-Kalaniopio put too much emphasis on velocity in the past, often losing his command because he tried to overthrow the ball. But the Kohala manager has seen a change this year.

“He’s learning it’s not about throwing hard, it’s locating — up and down, in and out,’’ Nakamura said.

Tagalicod, Kanehailua and freshman William Perez will also log innings on the mound.

Nakamura likes his defense in the middle of the field, with Bruno at catcher, Akima in center field and either Aiona or Aveiro-Kalaniopio at shortstop.

During the past month, Akima has displayed the patience Nakamura wants in a leadoff batter. Meanwhile, Kanehailua has shown the ability to lay down bunts, making him an option as a No. 2 batter.

Nakamura said Bruno, Aveiro-Kalaniopio and Aiona have hit the ball with authority in practice, but the Cowboys coach said his team must fare better at the plate against the island’s best left-handed pitchers and keep opponents from enjoying big innings offensively in order to do well this season.

KONAWAENA

c Coach: Lloyd Fujino (10^th season)

c 2011 BIIF record: 10-1 (beat HPA 15-14 in BIIF final, went 0-1 at HHSAA state tournament)

c Players to watch: Jarrett Kitaoka (P, Jr.), Kileona Manzano (LF, Jr.), Ryan Torres-Torioka (SS, Jr.), Makana Canda (3B, Sr.), Domonic Morris (CF, Jr.), Evyn Yamaguchi (C, So.)

c Between the lines: Konawaena lost just two starters from a team that won its first BIIF baseball title since 1972, giving the team high hopes for this season.

The Wildcats’ key returnees include the BIIF West Hawaii Player of the Year in Kitaoka, a home-run threat in Manzano at the cleanup spot and two high-average hitters in Canda and Torres-Torioka.

On top of that, the Wildcats added a solid leadoff hitter in sophomore Race Gustafson and a strong fielder at second base in Torres-Torioka’s brother, Royce.

Fujino sees very few weaknesses in the Wildcats, saying a team with just one senior needs more sources of leadership. If anything, Fujino said, Konawaena must guard against overconfidence.

“Last year has to be forgotten,’’ Fujino said. “We have to prove (ourselves) again.’’

Everything starts with Kitaoka, who went 5-0 in BIIF competition last year, completing all five of his starts. The junior throws a mid-80s fastball, and he keeps batters off balance with an effective change-up and a sharp curveball.

Fujino said sophomores Jordan Miyahira-Young and Royce Torres-Torioka, and freshmen Shelton Grace and Skye Suzuki will all have opportunities to start when Kitaoka does not. The Konawaena manager will lean on Morris in late-inning situations.

Some of the island’s best fielders will aid the Wildcats’ pitching staff.

Ryan Torres-Torioka and Yamaguchi have strong arms at shortstop and catcher, respectively, while Morris, a standout wide receiver for the BIIF Division II champion Wildcat football team, can cover a lot of ground in center field.

At the plate, Manzano hit .500 and tied for the team lead in RBIs last season with 14. Canda (.381) knocked in 11 runs, while Ryan Torres-Torioka (.500) had seven RBIs. All three players earned first-team All-BIIF West Hawaii honors along with Kitaoka and Miyahira-Young.

Both Manzano and Morris, who will bat second in the order, are left-handed batters, making the hit-and-run an enticing option for Fujino if either batter comes to the plate with a runner on first base.

Pahoa manager Scott Salfen could not be reached to provide information on his baseball team.