Na Koa Ikaika Experience Growing Pains

By Fred Guzman

Comparisons to the team that posted the best regular-season record in Golden Baseball League history a year ago are academic.

For one thing, the GBL is history.  So, for that matter, are many of the key members of last year’s squad.

So, with slightly more than a handful of returning players and a new manager in former big-leaguer Garry Templeton, this is a essentially a new team with a familiar name.

Last night, Na Koa Ikaika Maui fell to 2-5 after suffering a 9-6 loss to the Lake County Fielders in the finale of a season-opening series at Iron Maehara Stadium.  Maui had to work overtime for each its wins, needing 11 innings in each instance to gain a victory.

Na Koa returns to action tonight, hosting the Chico Outlaws, the same team that beat Maui in last year’s GBL championship series.  The manager of that team, ironically enough, was Garry Templeton.

The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and you can follow the action on Maui’s ESPN 550.

In other baseball-related news with a Maui twist, Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki struggled at the plate, as did his teammates, in a 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees, who completed a three-game sweep of the Athletics.  Suzuki went 0-for-4 for Oakland.  Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning for New York.