Hawai‘i Pacific University has selected Dane Fujinaka as its new head baseball coach. HPU Executive Director of Athletics Dr. Debbie Snell made the announcement on Monday.
Fujinaka, 28 and a 2011 graduate of Mid-Pacific Institute, replaces Dallas Correa who resigned to join the baseball staff at the University of Hawai‘i.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dane back home to join our HPU Ohana,” said Dr. Snell. "His baseball experience and background, his unique understanding of our island and connections in the community, along with his passion for serving in this role make him the perfect head baseball coach for HPU. We have been eagerly awaiting his arrival on campus and look forward to working with him. Please join me in welcoming Coach Fujinaka to HPU.”
Fujinaka comes to HPU from coaching in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system since 2019, and spent the last season as manager of the Blue Jays Dominican Summer League team.
Fujinaka was an assistant coach at Illinois State in 2019 where he helped the Redbirds to a Missouri Valley co-championship and an NCAA Tournament berth before joining the Blue Jays. He also coached at Sacramento State, William Jessup and Menlo.
He coached 13 student-athletes who were selected in the major league baseball draft during his tenure as a collegiate assistant.
“I'm so incredibly excited to be the Head Baseball Coach for Hawaii Pacific University,” said Fujinaka. “I want to thank Dr. Snell and the Athletic Department for this incredible opportunity and I can't wait to hit the ground running with this special group of staff, players, and alumni.”
“I've been extremely fortunate to have so many different baseball experiences at all levels of this game and in many parts of the world, but this one specifically, is certainly special to me. To be able to come home and coach college baseball for a school that I grew up watching has always been a dream of mine. Go Sharks!”
As a player, the new Sharks skipper was an Academic All-WAC performer as a catcher at Sacramento State, where he started 135 of 152 games at catcher for the Hornets. He helped lead the Hornets to the 2013 NCAA regional. He sported a .246 career batting average, with 16 doubles and 49 RBIs. He finished his collegiate playing career at Menlo where he started all 54 games and was second on the Oaks with a .280 batting average with four home runs, nine doubles and 22 RBIs. He was an all-state and all-ILH catcher at Mid-Pac.
Fujinaka earned his bachelor’s in sports management at Menlo in 2016.
