HONOLULU – Hawai’i baseball head coach Rich Hill announced Tuesday the addition of Keith Zuniga to the coaching staff as the program’s pitching coach.
Zuniga arrives at UH after spending the last three seasons at New Mexico State, ending his time with the Aggies as the interim head coach, leading the program from March through the end of the 2023 season.
“Coach Zuniga will be a huge addition to our staff,” said Hill. “He has a proven track record of developing arms that reach the next level and will be a valuable asset on the recruiting trail. He’s another young coach that has a bright future and we can’t wait for him to get started.”
While at New Mexico State, Zuniga worked primarily as the Aggies’ pitching coach while also serving as recruiting coordinator. In 2022 he helped the NMSU pitching staff finish second in the WAC in strikeout-to-walk ratio while ranking third in total strikeouts, as the Aggies won the WAC Tournament on the way to an NCAA Tournament appearance. A pair of Zuniga’s pitchers were selected in the 2022 MLB Draft in Ian Mejia (11th round, Atlanta Braves) and Sammy Natera (17th round, Los Angeles Angels), while four others signed professional contracts.
Prior to joining the Aggies in the fall of 2020, Zuniga spent six seasons on the staff at his alma mater, Bethune-Cookman, starting off as director of baseball operations from 2015-17 before serving as an assistant coach in 2018 and taking over pitching coach responsibilities from 2019-20.
Zuniga’s staff put up stellar numbers in the shortened 2020 season, posting a 2.56 ERA while holding opponents to a .209 batting average. In 2019, he mentored 11th-round draft pick Anthony Maldonado, who finished second in the MEAC with 97 strikeouts while working with a BCU staff that led the conference in punch-outs.
Zuniga also helped bring in the highest-ranked recruiting class in Bethune-Cookman history, as the 2019 signing class ranked 59th in the country according to Perfect Game. During his time as director of operations, the Wildcats won a pair of MEAC titles in 2016 and 2017, highlighted by a 2017 run to Game 7 of the Gainesville Regional – the deepest NCAA postseason run ever by any MEAC squad.
A standout player at Bethune-Cookman, Zuniga was selected by the Miami Marlins in the 35th round of the 2014 MLB Draft but decided to return for his senior year. He finished his two-year career at BCU with a 15-9 record and 2.85 ERA over 186.0 innings pitched, earning All-MEAC honors both years. The Nogales, Ariz. native started his collegiate career at Pima Community College.
Zuniga’s Coaching Experience
New Mexico State – Interim Head Coach (2023)
New Mexico State – Pitching Coach (2021-23)
Bethune-Cookman – Pitching Coach (2019-20)
Bethune-Cookman – Assistant Coach (2018)
Bethune-Cookman – Director of Baseball Operations (2015-17)
Playing Career
Bethune-Cookman – 2014-15
Pima CC – 2012-13
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