Three Strikes: Ahuna Shines, Maryland-Illinois Marquee Series, Southland Chaos

Kansas SS Maui Ahuna Among the Nation’s Elite

One of the first things Kansas does when its recruits from Hawaii arrive on campus is get them a standard-issue Adidas KU jacket, because the winters and early springs in Lawrence are nothing short of a shock to the system for players who grew up, quite literally, in paradise. 

Learning to adjust to the Division I game is tough enough as it is, but having to do so while also dealing with the biting cold for the first time adds another layer to it. It was no different for KU shortstop Maui Ahuna. 

“I came up here with tank tops, normal Hawaii kid clothes,” Ahuna said. “Nothing to dress warm, I’ve got none of that coming here. KU gave me a couple of nice jackets to keep me warm, but that still ain’t helping me.”

But suffice it to say that Ahuna has adjusted to the temperatures, or at least learned to cope with them, because nothing has slowed him down this season. 

He’s hitting .424/.506/.682, and he leads the Jayhawks in most offensive categories, including doubles (11), triples (four), RBIs (35), walks (20) and stolen bases (10), in addition to leading in all three slash line categories. 

Before a tough series against Baylor that saw him go 1-for-11 with six strikeouts, he also went into the weekend leading the nation in hitting with a .453 average. 

“Just being myself, really,” Ahuna said of the key to his outstanding numbers. “Just enjoying the game, having fun.”

Although Ahuna is now the most prominent example, he’s just the most recent player to make the trek from Hawaii to Lawrence to play college baseball. All told, 10 players have done so since Wally Marciel, now the program’s Director of Baseball Operations, arrived as a recruit in 2006.

What perhaps began as a one-off situation has now grown into a legitimate pipeline as the tight-knit Hawaii baseball community sees more and more of its players going to KU and having a good experience. 

“If you treat a Hawaii kid first class, then next year if they’ve got a really good player, (coaches) will call you and help you with their recruiting because they know you take care of their guys,” coach Ritch Price said.

The connection began while Price was attending recruiting camps at Stanford, but more recently has continued as he attends fall showcases put on by the Rays in Hawaii. That’s where he saw Ahuna as a high school sophomore. 

“The first time I saw Maui play in that (event), he was a sophomore in high school, and I absolutely loved his skill set,” Price said. “He’s one of those fast-twitch athletes. It’s slender, quick, agile. I thought as he physically matured, he had a chance to become a very special player and that’s certainly been the case.”

The tools that Price saw that day have stood out for Ahuna from day one. His hands, arm and athleticism have helped him handle shortstop from the moment he stepped on campus and his bat-to-ball skills made him an instant contributor in the lineup on the way to hitting .314/.413/.422 as a freshman, impressive numbers for a player who didn’t see much velocity in his prep days. 

“Hawaii players, you know, we don’t have guys throwing above 85,” Ahuna said. “I come here, first thing, facing guys throwing 95.”

There’s no denying that this season has been on another level. Consider that his 20 extra-base hits are already five more than he had all of last season, and after hitting just one home run last season, he has five in 2022. 

That’s not just a matter of getting acclimated to playing in the cold. That’s a result of a concerted effort on Ahuna’s part to get stronger. Although it might not be apparent looking at his wiry frame, he has put on 20 pounds since getting to campus, and now, balls that were two- or three-hopping the outfield wall last season are bouncing up against the wall or getting over it. 

“Over the summer, my main goal was to gain weight because I was a skinny dude last year,” Ahuna said. “So my main goal was to gain weight, get stronger over the summer, which I did. I came back here feeling way stronger. I felt amazing coming back. So that was a huge deal for me.”

Ahuna still wants to get better at hitting breaking balls, and Price says he has some steps to take on the mental side of the game, specifically with not letting one bad result at the plate affect his at-bats later in the game and series, which happened last weekend against Baylor. 

But as is, Ahuna is already quite dynamic. He’s an intriguing prospect for the 2023 draft class—Price isn’t shy about saying that he has first-round potential—he’s one of the best position players in the Big 12 and he’s the crown jewel of perhaps college baseball’s unlikeliest recruiting pipeline. 

Maryland and Illinois Set for Critical Big Ten Showdown

Whether it’s because of a lack of individual star power in the conference compared to previous years, because the usual stalwarts that finish near the top of the standings like Indiana, Michigan and Nebraska aren’t controlling the league or because of something else altogether, the first half of the Big Ten schedule has been devoid of marquee matchups. 

That changes this weekend, however, as No. 22 Maryland, which is 30-7 overall and 7-2 in Big Ten play, pays a visit to Champaign to take on Illinois. 

It was easy to write the Illini off in March when a series loss to Southern Illinois dropped them to 7-10, and their overall record is still just 19-15, but at 10-2 in the conference, they have elbowed their way to the upper echelon of the league and into postseason discussions. 

What has been consistent all season for Illinois is the performance of lefthander Cole Kirschsieper at the front of the rotation. The third-year sophomore is 4-2 with a 2.75 ERA, 57 strikeouts and a .211 opponent batting average in 52.1 innings overall. He’s been even better in four Big Ten starts, as he has a 2.05 ERA, 26 strikeouts and a .195 opponent batting average in 22 innings. 

More recent developments that have helped the Illini jump out to a quick start in the Big Ten include righthander Riley Gowens turning it on in conference play, giving Illinois a dangerous one-two punch in the rotation, and the offense hitting its stride. 

Gowens has a 2.45 ERA and a .187 opponent batting average in 22 innings in Big Ten play, and last weekend against Northwestern, he threw seven shutout innings. 

Offensively, a group that’s hitting .278/.380/.422 overall is hitting .292/.401/.421 in conference play, led by left fielder Cam McDonald (.392/.431/.529 in Big Ten games) and shortstop Branden Comia (.373/.448/.588), who are also the top two home runs hitters in the lineup with six and five, respectively. 

Maryland boasts one of the most well-rounded teams in the conference. Its lineup is hitting .295/.409/.501 and its 60 home runs lead the league. And its rotation of righthander Nick Dean (3-1,3.94), lefthander Ryan Ramsey (7-0, 2.59) and righthander Jason Savacool (6-2, 2.39) is the best the Big Ten has to offer, although Rutgers might also have something to say about that. 

The postseason implications in this series are fairly clear, even beyond the Big Ten regular-season title race. Illinois has suddenly found itself in the mix for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. It still has work to do, most notably in getting its RPI lowered to an acceptable number, but a series win against the Terrapins would go a long way toward doing so. 

Maryland, meanwhile, would clearly be in the field of 64 if the season ended today. Instead, it has its eyes on hosting a regional. Like Illinois, it probably has some RPI work to do in order to secure that for its future, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to be in position to win the Big Ten, which would be a tough trick to pull off without a series win in Champaign this weekend. 

The Big Ten may go through Piscataway this season with how well Rutgers is playing, but the result between Maryland and Illinois this weekend will have a lot to say about what’s what in the conference. 

Sorting Out the Southland Conference

In a new-look Southland Conference, it was fair to assume that one team would rise to the top in 2022 in a conference race that looked wide open. 

Instead, the 2022 season in the Southland has given us something else, to say the very least. Chaos might be one word for it. 

Through four weekends of conference play, all eight teams are between 7-5 and 4-8 in conference play, and just two of those teams, Incarnate Word at 5-7 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 4-8, are under .500.

There are reasons, frankly, to believe in every team in the league as a possible regular-season champion and automatic bid winner. 

Nicholls State and Houston Baptist, which are part of a three-way tie for first place at 7-5, seem energized by new coaches in Mike Silva and Lance Berkman, respectively, and have played well enough for long enough now that it’s clear those teams aren’t flukes. Southeastern Louisiana, the other team in that three-way tie, is a perennial contender in the league, has the league’s top slugger in Preston Faulkner (.285/.414/.615, 11 HR) and has won three straight series. 

New Orleans (6-6) this season won series against two Big 12 teams, Kansas and Oklahoma. McNeese State (6-6) has been the class of the conference in recent years and has the most dynamic offense in the conference, as it came out of last weekend leading the Southland in hitting and stolen bases. 

Northwestern State (6-6) has the steadiest rotation in the conference with lefthander Cal Carver (3-4, 4.62), righthander Johnathan Harmon (4-4, 3.15) and righthander Drayton Brown (4-3, 3.61). UIW can really shorten games with its standout bullpen led by righthander Steve Hayward (2.45 ERA, 25.2 IP), righthander Larry Westall (2.81 ERA, 16 IP) and righthander Chandler David (4.91 ERA, 33 IP, 5 SV). Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has single wins over Iowa, Wichita State and Pepperdine, plus a series win over Nebraska, on its ledger, and boasts one of the most dynamic talents in the conference in outfielder Brendan Ryan (.376/.462/.560, 18 SB). 

Because of the parity in the league and because of a new tournament format, the postseason in this conference promises to be a free-for-all. 

All eight teams make the conference tournament. Seeds one, four, five and eight will play a double-elimination tournament at the home park of the one seed, while the two, three, six and seven seeds will do so at the home of the two seed. 

The winners of each respective bracket will then play a best-of-three series for the automatic bid the following weekend. And if the first half of SLC play is any indication, that auto bid could go to absolutely anyone.