The University of Hawaii only needed three starting pitchers when it went to the Houston College Classic in early March, and there was no reason whatsoever for any of those pitchers to be named Quintin Torres-Costa.
The sophomore left-hander had just been tagged for eight runs and only recorded five outs in a 16-1 loss at Pepperdine. Moved to the bullpen by coach Mike Trapasso, Torres-Costa gave up two runs in an inning against Houston, and his line (one balk, one hit batter) included the nagging warts expected of a struggling pitcher. His ERA ballooned to 10.80.
It wasn’t just that the light finally went on for Torres-Costa.