When Isiah Kiner-Falefa and the Toronto Blue Jays punched their ticket to the World Series with a dramatic 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 20, the Mid-Pacific baseball community beamed with pride.
Kiner-Falefa, a 2013 Mid-Pacific alumnus, has played at the Major League level since 2018, building a reputation as a trusty utility player. His presence in the Major Leagues alone marks the first and only time a player from the school has reached the show.
With the Blue Jays trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 7 against the Mariners, Kiner-Falefa fought off an 0-2 single, setting the stage for a 3-run home run by George Springer. Toronto secured its spot in the World Series for the first time since 1993, where it would face the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hawai‘i Pacific baseball head coach Dane Fujinaka, a 2011 MPI alum, watched the pennant-clinching game on television. As soon as the Blue Jays won, he contemplated buying tickets to see his former high school teammate in person. He then realized that if someone were to make the trip to watch him play, it should be Dunn Muramaru, head coach of the Mid-Pacific varsity baseball team since 1987.
"That night, I just kind of ran through my head how cool it would be to be able to go watch," Fujinaka recently told Aloha State Daily. "And I just thought of coach Dunn because being in a coach's shoes, I couldn't imagine having one of my current players grow up and become a big leaguer and then play the World Series. And that's something that doesn't happen often. It happens sort of once in a lifetime, right? I was like, You know what, we got to send him up there. I think that's like the icing on the cake for him with being inducted into the (American Baseball Coaches Association) Hall of Fame.
"It was honestly really easy because people want to find a way to give back to him because he's given so much to everybody."
Fujinaka was a senior when Kiner-Falefa got his shot to join the varsity team as a sophomore. Although Kiner-Falefa played sparingly that year, the two maintained a friendship over the years. Fujinaka, who worked with the Blue Jays organization for three seasons before getting the HPU gig in 2021, says he still keeps in touch with colleagues during his time with the organization. They all gush about Kiner-Falefa, who signed with them in 2024, then was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates that same year, but rejoined in time for the 2025 postseason.
"It's unbelievable to just see the way he carries himself," Fujinaka said of Kiner-Falefa. "He's the heart and hustle guy on every team, it seems like. They all said tremendous things about him as a person and a teammate. He's kind of like their spark plug. It doesn't shock me, because he's literally done everything that every club has ever asked of him."
Muramaru will have a former player serving a prominent role on each team. In addition to Kiner-Falefa, 2007 MPI alumnus Will Ireton has served as an interpreter for Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani since the 2024 season, one of his roles as the team's director of Japanese operations and strategy.
Fujinaka successfully purchased two tickets to Game 3 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium, which begins at 2 p.m. HST on Monday. He was able to purchase a pair of upper level tickets above the third base dugout, priced at approximately $1,200 apiece. Muramaru will be accompanied by Mid-Pacific pitching coach Craig Hayashi. They were the best seats available when Fujinaka purchased them, and when he checked for tickets the next day, none were available.
When Fujinaka reached out to his network, agreement that Muramaru deserved to be at the World Series was so strong and unanimous that the contributions needed were met within hours. Fujinaka sent out another update to say that he had raised enough money, but funds still came in. The excess money will go to Muramaru and Hayashi, with helping MPI's baseball program floated as one of the possible uses.
Fujinaka estimates that about 50 people chipped in, with 30 to 40 of them former MPI baseball players. An additional 10 to 15 are other coaches, teachers, or those who simply learned something from Muramaru and appreciated what he gave to the game.
"I was just in shock," Muramaru said when he was informed of the efforts to get him to the World Series. "It's hard to explain. It's like, wow. You don't really think that you did that much to deserve all that. I'm just overwhelmed."
Muramaru, 71, will continue to coach the baseball team at Mid-Pacific when a new season begins in the spring. His run with the Owls includes five state titles and six runner-up finishes. When he tuned in to Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, the feeling he got seeing two former players was priceless.
"I was thinking, wow, you have two people in the World Series from the same high school," he said. "That's kind of neat. Must be kind of rare."
Kiner-Falefa was an All-State shortstop for Muramaru who bypassed a college commitment to San Jose State to go pro immediately out of high school. After making his Major League debut in 2018 for the Texas Rangers, the franchise that drafted him in 2013, Kiner-Falefa has played for four different teams, carving out a role as a respected utility player. He has played every single position on the field, with the exception of first base. As a mop-up pitcher, teams have scored just two runs off of him in his 6.2 career innings.
"Really proud of him and just the way he carries himself," Muramaru said. "All the years he's played, we're just proud of him, as far as being from our place and how he represents not only our school, but the state of Hawai‘i with how good a person he is."
Although he's not a player, Ireton receives far more screen time than Kiner-Falefa due to his presence as Ohtani's interpreter. During games, Ireton also serves Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who tossed a complete game to help the Dodgers even the World Series at one game apiece heading back to Los Angeles.
"He didn't play too much for us, honestly," Muramaru said of Ireton, who played collegiately at Occidental College and Menlo College. "But a really good teammate. Everybody liked him, and he was just a really good person. I think that goes a long way. And I'm pretty sure that's what (the Dodgers) saw in him, too."
The funds raised covers tickets, transportation and one night at a Los Angeles hotel. Muramaru and Hayashi are teammates in a softball league and had a playoff game on Sunday and will arrive in LA on a red-eye that lands on Monday.
"It was funny because I said you guys don't have to fly the red-eye Sunday," Fujinaka said. "Why don't you guys go up a day before the game? Their softball team is in the playoffs and they cannot miss it. Both of those guys are just ultimate teammates. They're not willing to even miss a softball game to go up a day earlier for the World Series. I thought that was pretty fitting."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
