First pitch of the 115th edition of the World Series is set for tomorrow where the Houston Astros will face-off against the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of a best-of-seven series.

Maui’s own Kurt Suzuki is eyeing his first-career world championship and the 26-year-old catcher for the Nationals couldn’t be any more motivated by the outpouring of support he’s received from his home state thousands of miles away.

“It’s humbling,” Suzuki said. ”To know you have the state of Hawaii behind you, all the friends that I grew up with, the family that I have out there, all the relationships that I have … it’s kind of surreal.”

The former All-Star has been extremely productive for Washington this season, hitting 17 home runs with 63 RBIs in 85 games. However, the Baldwin graduate is far from done in 2019. Not only does he want to bring a World Series back to Washington, he wants to bring one home to Maui to show that anyone from the islands can achieve what he has.

“You grow up in this little island in Maui and you make it to the Major Leagues and obviously now, you’re on the biggest stage in baseball with a chance to win the World Series … the support is very humbling,” he said. “I’m so blessed to be in this spot right now and I try to do my best to do everything to make Hawaii proud and try to be a good role model for the kids back home.”

Game 1 of the 2019 World Series is set for 1:30 p.m. HST tomorrow live on KHON2.

