Baseball is in Steve Seki's blood. It has been since the day he was born.

Seki, the head baseball coach at Shoreline Community College in north Seattle, learned the game from his late father and longtime Pearl City High coach, Mel Seki, who died last year.

Mel Seki impacted hundreds of players during his 15 seasons at the helm of the Chargers' program while son Steve — despite being in Washington state — is also attracting many local players to his program.

"I just know that there are a lot of good players back home and there's only three schools to go to (to play baseball)," Seki said. "We're here if the (junior college) route is something for them."

Shoreline's roster of 28 players includes 11 from Hawai'i — pitchers JJ Iwane ('Aiea '08), Jordan Buster (Kaua'i '08) and Cody Aquino ('Aiea '07); infielders Tyler Abasial ('Aiea '08), Jordan Casarez (Pearl City '08), Jordan Agcaoili (Maui '08) and Travis Shigeta (Kapa'a '08); and outfielders Troy Kashiwabara (Kalani '08), Christian Marquez (Campbell '08), Isaac Moises (Word of Life '08) and Bryson Nakamura (Pearl City '08).

The Dolphins compete in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, which is made up of schools from Oregon, Washington and Canada.

"I guess through word of mouth, kids go back home and hopefully they had a good enough experience to say some positive things about our program," said Seki, who noted he usually returns home each spring to watch the state tournament. "Typically, the Hawai'i kids have done well in our program."

Apparently, this is a typical year.

Aquino, one of just five sophomores on the team — and the only one amongst the Hawai'i contigent — is the ace of the pitching staff.

"Cody normally starts game one," Seki said. "(The pitchers) are all on pitch counts right now so they're not going real deep into games, but he's pitched well enough to win all three starts."

Aquino is 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .176 batting average.

"It's a tough spot to be in," Aquino said of being the game one starter. "We like to set a good tempo and usually if you win the first game, you have that confidence that just keeps on rolling and you work off of that, so I have to just to get it started."

Aquino and the Dolphins opened the season with a doubleheader sweep of Pierce on Feb. 28 and the confidence hasn't stopped growing. Shoreline is 10-0 heading into this weekend's Yakima Tournament.

"The whole team is working harder this year than we did last year," Aquino said. "At the beginning of the year all of us made a commitment to put everything we had into this season and there's just been something between everybody that just clicks."

Seki said his team's ability to win close games have been the difference so far.

"Last year we really struggled, we lost a ton of one-run games and it was pretty rough last year," he said. "But our record didn't indicate the kind of team we were. We were a much better team than that and this year it shows. Now we're winning close games."

A few of the players — Nakamura and Casarez — played for Pearl City.

"I have a couple kids that played for my dad and there's a special connection to them," Seki said, "but at the same time, I feel that I have that with all kids from Hawai'i."

Aquino, for one, appreciates the local favor the group brings to the team.

"It kind of feels like home actually," Aquino said. "Being on the field with the Hawai'i guys — guys we usually play against back home — it's pretty special and it's working out right now."

It's a feeling shared by their coach.

"I try to make them feel at home here ... and they do the same for me," Seki said.

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