Chaminade University Men's Baseball

Chaminade University Athletics announced on Sept. 27, 2022 the hiring of Chad Konishi as its first head coach in the restart of its baseball program with the 2026 season being his third as the program's skipper. In Year 2 under his guidance, the Silverswords won 18 contests with 16 Pacific West Conference wins, doubling the number of league wins from the first year. Among the season's biggest wins was a 6-4 upset over Division I Wichita State on Feb. 24, 2025 where first baseman Safea Villaruz-Mauai crushed a pair of homers including a first-inning grand slam. The redshirt senior later earned all-conference third team honors at season's end. In the classroom, 36 'Swords were Academic All-PacWest. In the program's first year of resurrection, the Silverswords won 15 games with eight PacWest victories. Outfielder Ryan Ruch finished the 2024 season on the All-PacWest Second Team as well as earning conference Freshman of the Year honors after hitting .371. First baseman Casey Kuddell was also named all-conference, earning third team kudos. But perhaps even more impressively, 30 members of the team were named Academic All-PacWest.   Konishi has extensive experience in collegiate baseball, serving as associate head coach at the University of Hawai‘i Manoa from 2002 to ’13 where he was also the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. During his 12-year career at Hawai‘i, the Rainbow Warriors reached two NCAA Regionals (2006 and 2010) with a Western Athletic Conference title in 2011 while posting one 40-win season and eight 30-win campaigns. His pitching staffs were consistently near the top of WAC pitching statistics including posting the conference’s lowest ERAs in 2006 (3.79) and 2007 (3.97).   While at UH, he helped coach three All-Americans in Kolten Wong, Lenny Linsky and Steven Wright, five all-district honorees, 52 players who were named either first or second team All-WAC and 45 who were drafted by Major League Baseball. Wong was a first-round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011 and is currently playing with the Milwaukee Brewers. Wright was a second-round selection by the Cleveland Guardians in 2006 before making his big league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and enjoyed a seven-year Major League career.   Before arriving at the UH Manoa campus, Konishi was an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco from 1996 through 2001 where he was also the Dons pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. He coached two All-Americans, seven freshmen All-Americans, 18 West Coast Conference first and second team selections with 17 drafted into the majors.   His first year of coaching was at the City College of San Francisco in 1995 where he was the pitching coach, and helped the program to its first Coast Conference title in 35 years. CCSF finished that season ranked No. 6 among two-year colleges in the state of California.   Konishi is a 1989 graduate of Punahou School in Honolulu and played collegiately at the University of California at Berkeley where he earned his Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. He was a member of two NCAA Regional squads including the 1992 team which advanced to the College World Series.   Since 2014, Konishi had been a high school athletics director, the past three at Saint Louis School, which shares the same campus as Chaminade. Prior to his time at Saint Louis, he headed the extremely successful athletics program at Saint Francis School in Manoa before the institution closed its doors in 2019. Both Saint Louis and Saint Francis won numerous Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state championships and Interscholastic League of Honolulu titles during his tenure as athletics director.   Konishi's Coaching Record Season Overall Pct. Conf. Pct. PacWest Finish Postseason 2024 15-33 .312 8-22 .267 9th 2025 18-32 .360 16-28 .364 10th 2026 11-38 .224 9-34 .209 11th Totals 44-103 .299 33-84 .282  

Assistant coach Keith Komeiji joined the newly resurrected Chaminade University baseball team in 2024, the first such team since 1981 when the Silverswords were a club team. He will be the hitting coach, work with the catchers and coach third base. The 'Swords won 18 contests with 16 Pacific West Conference wins in 2025, doubling the number of league wins from the first year. Among the season's biggest wins was a 6-4 upset over Division I Wichita State on Feb. 24, 2025 where first baseman Safea Villaruz-Mauai crushed a pair of homers including a first-inning grand slam. The redshirt senior later earned all-conference third team honors at season's end. In the classroom, 36 'Swords were Academic All-PacWest. In the program's first year of resurrection, the Silverswords won 15 games with eight Pacific West Conference victories. Outfielder Ryan Ruch finished the 2024 season on the All-PacWest Second Team as well as earning conference Freshman of the Year honors after hitting .371. First baseman Casey Kuddell was also named all-conference, earning third team kudos. But perhaps even more impressively, 30 members of the team were named Academic All-PacWest. Komeiji's impressive coaching credentials include nine years at the University of Hawai'i Manoa from 2002-09, first working with the catchers then being elevated to hitting coach in 2006. It was under his tutelage the Rainbows became one of the Western Athletic Conference's top slugging squads, posting team batting averages of .297 in 2006, .305 in 2007, .288 in 2008 and .287 in 2010. All four season averages are still among the highest averages by UH teams since 2000 heading into the 2024 season. In 2009, Hawai'i bashed a school-record 64 home runs with three Rainbows -- Kevin McDonald, Vinny Catricala and Kolten Wong -- each finishing in the top 10 in single-season homers. In 2010, the Rainbows won the WAC Tournament and earned a bid to the NCAA Regionals. Komeiji's work with catchers helped two of them get drafted in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft with Grady Symonds in 2002, Brian Bock in 2003,and Esteban Lopez and Matt Inouye in 2006. Following his time in Manoa, Komeiji became a volunteer assistant coach at the University of the Pacific from 2011-12. Prior to Chaminade, Komeiji was an assistant coach for Kamehameha-Kapalama School for four years, helping the Warriors capture the 2023 Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Division I state championship, the school's first since 2003. A graduate of Kaiser High School in Honolulu, he played one season at UH Manoa then attended Orange Coast College where he was selected in the 1993 supplemental draft by the Seattle Mariners. After six seasons in the Mariners' organization, Komeiji played two seasons in the Italian Baseball League. After leaving his playing career, he had his first coaching assignment, serving as an assistant at Iolani School in Honolulu from 1995 to 2001.  

Chester Wilson joins the resurrection of the Chaminade University baseball team has the assistant hitting coach and will oversee the corner infielders. He will also be calling out the defensive schemes and will be the first base coach. The Silverswords won 18 contests with 16 Pacific West Conference wins in 2025, doubling the number of league wins from the first year. Among the season's biggest wins was a 6-4 upset over Division I Wichita State on Feb. 24, 2025 where first baseman Safea Villaruz-Mauai crushed a pair of homers including a first-inning grand slam. The redshirt senior later earned all-conference third team honors at season's end. In the classroom, 36 'Swords were Academic All-PacWest. In the program's first year of resurrection, the Silverswords won 15 games with eight Pacific West Conference victories. Outfielder Ryan Ruch finished the 2024 season on the All-PacWest Second Team as well as earning conference Freshman of the Year honors after hitting .371. First baseman Casey Kuddell was also named all-conference, earning third team kudos. But perhaps even more impressively, 30 members of the team were named Academic All-PacWest. Wilson is familiar with the hills of Kalaepohaku, playing his high school ball at Saint Louis School where he was a standout performer with the Crusaders. He then played collegiately at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, playing at first base, outfield and designated hitter, where he was an All-Summit League selection at third base. He was selected in the 48th round by Kansas City in the 2005 Major League Amateur Draft.   After graduating from Southern Utah with a Bachelor's degree in Education, Wilson coached at Hawai‘i Pacific University from 2019 to 2021. He then went to Moanalua High School in Honolulu where he was an assistant coach.