Daniel Va'a

• Born January 9, 1987

Biographical Information

Daniel Va'a was on the American Samoa national team that won Bronze in the 2007 South Pacific Games. In the 2011 Pacific Games, he was the team's top player. He got their first hit, off Fiji's Emosi Gotegote and went the distance in their opener (6 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 11 K) in a loss. He played first base, left field and pitcher. He hit .438/.444/.438 with two runs and two RBI in six games, fielding .889. He was 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA and fanned 15 in 12 IP. He led their regulars in average (John Love was next at .286), strikeouts (9 ahead of Ikaika Mahuka) and ERA (2.39 ahead of Pemerika Mahuka). In the 5th/6th place game, also against Fiji, he allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings, being relieved by Ikaika Mahuka with a 7-2 lead over Sanail Colainima but the bullpen blew out and he got a no-decision. For the tourney, he was among the leaders in average (2nd, .062 behind Rico Castro), slugging (9th, between Tavo Sorovakatini and Manuel Sablan Jr.), OBP (7th, between Sorovakatini and Rémi Couarraze) and batters fanned (3rd, behind Joshua Jones and Elton Santos).