Belmodis Signs with HPU; Head Coach Fujinaka is Excited
April 11th , 2022 - It was the end of October and Hunter Belmodis was sitting without an offer to pitch at the collegiate level. He contacted Nomura Academy to help improve his velocity and saw a jump in 5 mph on his fastball in about 4-5 sessions with the Nomuras. Now sitting 82-84 mph and topping out at 85 mph, Belmodis took his work to Sunday Night Baseball, where he got to face top hitters such as Nu'u Contrades (ASU Commit), Aiva Arquette (UW Commit), and Nolan Souza (Arkansas Commit). Experiencing success against some of the state's top hitters, Belmodis started to garner interst from various schools. He was given an opportunity to pitch in the Tiger League, which was a series of games vs some the state's top high school programs (Punahou, Iolani, and MidPac) and a top-tier team from California, South Hills High School. Belmodis had 4 appearances and combined for 8 IP 19 Ks 0 ER. His domination of Punahou (2 IP 6 Ks 0 ER) resulted in a phone call from the University of Hawaii. In the end, Hunter decided to roll with the offer he received from HPU. "We are excited to get Hunter on campus this fall," head coach Dane Fujinaka stated. "Hunter has a high level of pitchability and competitiveness. Throughout his high school carreer he's beaten and proved he can pitch against the top hitters."
Congratulations to Hunter and his Ohana!