Hawaii’s Lone Stars

FIVE BIG ISLANDERS HEADED TO JC IN TEXAS

BY JOE FERRARO | WEST HAWAII TODAY

It was the best $300 investment five Big Island baseball players could have ever made.

Hawaii Prep’s Jayse Bannister, Hilo’s Koa Matson, Honokaa’s Dylan Shiraki and Joey Charbonneau, and Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Kaimana Moike will all attend Lon Morris College.

The junior college, located in Jacksonville, Texas, will cover approximately 75 percent of the players’ tuition and room and board.

Lon Morris coach Chase Tidwell first saw the Big Island players at an ABD Baseball camp accomplished youth baseball coach Kaha Wong organized at Wong Stadium Dec. 12-13. At the two-day camp, representatives from 13 colleges evaluated more than 50 Big Island players.

Tidwell came away impressed with the skills the players displayed at the two-day camp, rounding up Bannister, Matson, Shiraki, Charbonneau and Moike and offering them scholarships right on the spot.

The five players signed scholarship documents between late January and early February, and all of them applauded Wong for conducting the camp because it gave Big Island players invaluable exposure to college coaches.

“That’s why I do it,” Wong said. “I don’t do it for money.”

ABD Baseball has scheduled camps on Oahu for years, but Wong’s was the first ever on the Big Island.

“From Kona to Honokaa to Ka’u to Hilo,” said Honokaa baseball coach Matt Charbonneau, Joey Charbonneau’s father. “Not too many people go out of their way to take care of kids like that.”

The entry fee for the Hilo camp was $300 per player, but Wong said participating in an Oahu camp would cost Big Islanders more than $1,000.

“People don’t understand with this kind of showcase it sounds expensive, but it’s really not,” Wong said.

Last season, Tidwell tapped into the Big Island’s talent pool to find 2011 Hawaii Prep graduate Micah Ashburn, a pitcher.

But Tidwell is a former catcher, and he reeled in arguably the Big Island’s best catcher in Matson.

The senior said 12 of the 13 schools at the ABD Baseball camp expressed interest in him, but Matson valued Tidwell’s experience as a catcher. More
importantly, Matson said, Tidwell stressed the opportunity to use Lon Morris as a stepping stone to high-level collegiate baseball. Matson, who has considered business and physical education as majors, would like to play in the major leagues.

“He made it convincing that I could get there,” said Matson, who played on a Hilo all-star team that won the Senior League Baseball World Series last August before earning first-team All-Big Island Interscholastic Federation East Hawaii honors for the Vikings as a junior.

Matson said Tidwell liked his power at the plate and his strong arm behind it.

At Lon Morris, Matson will catch for three other Big Islanders headed to Texas with him: left-handers Shiraki and Bannister and a righty in Moike.

Shiraki, who will consider business as a major, earned first-team All-BIIF honors in each of the past two seasons for the Dragons. The senior, who also helped lead Honokaa’s boys soccer team to two Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II state titles, said having others from the Big Island accompanying him to Lon Morris played a big role in his college choice.

“I decided I wanted to get away from the island, get out there,” Shiraki said. “I decided if there’s a lot of people going there, it be easier to adapt.”

Shiraki’s teammate, Charbonneau, has been known for his fielding prowess at shortstop, where he has started since his freshman season.

Bannister has pitched HPA to two consecutive Division II state tournament appearances.

However, he didn’t believe he performed at a high level at the ABD Baseball camp in mid-December having just completed his senior season for HPA’s football team. So the scholarship offer from Tidwell surprised him.

Bannister called Wong the “main reason” for getting an offer from Lon Morris, and he also valued having Big Islanders nearby in Texas.

“If I was by myself and didn’t know anyone, it’d be hard to get used to the area,” Bannister said. “At least we have each other.”

Bannister, Shiraki and Moike all throw in the mid- to high-80s.

Moike, also a member of Hilo’s Senior League championship team, helped lead Kamehameha to the 2010 HHSAA Division II state title game.

“He has good velocity and good presence on the mound,” Kamehameha coach Andy Correa said. “He has to continue developing his second and third pitches.”

Correa said college coaches take a lot of stock in character when they evaluate players, and he raved about Moike’s.

“He’s hard-working, very humble, gets along with this teammates,” Correa said. “He’s a tremendous asset that he gets along with everyone.

“His best baseball is still ahead of him. He’ll probably get there because of his character.”

It’s something Wong, who offers hitting instruction to several Big Island high school players, demands from his players.

“I don’t help a kid if he has an attitude,” Wong said. “I don’t help a kid if he talks back to a coach. … If you do that, I don’t help you.”

jferraro@westhawaiitoday.com