The best of times for the University of Hawaii-Hilo baseball program probably came 32 years ago when the Vulcans generated a school-record 41 victories with a roster of mostly local players who wanted it a little more and kept finding new ways to win games.
“The team truly understood baseball and their roles in the game,” said Joey Estrella, the man who started the program and was its only coach for 37 years. “It was a special group because they all took leadership roles, but they were led collectively by a great leader.”
That would be team captain Kallen Miyataki, “a coach on the field,” for Estrella, but these days Miyataki has a much more difficult task.