Not only has the No. 1 pitcher for the Rainbows suffered through a nagging groin injury this season, now he's battling a bad case of the flu as well.

His status for this weekend's series with No. 2-ranked Southern California is hazy at best. If the senior from Australia is able, he'll pitch against the Trojans. But at this point, that's a big if.

"We'll use him if he feels like he can pitch," UH head coach Les Murakami said yesterday. "But right now, we just don't know."

McNally echoed those sentiments. Yesterday, all he planned to do was rest.

"I feel terrible right now," McNally said of the flu virus that has circulated through the UH team. "Robby (Robinson) had it last week, so I probably got it from him.

"I went to have the acupuncture done (on his groin pull) on Monday, so we'll see if that helps. Right now, I plan to rest and see how everything feels this weekend."

Murakami wasn't willing to guess who would be in his starting rotation should McNally fail to heal in time. The likely threesome would be Robinson, Jamie Aloy and Dusty Bergman.

The 8-2 Trojans are coming off an 11-8 victory over UC Santa Barbara. They took two of three from powerful Long Beach State and already have knocked off rival Arizona State twice in three games in Pac-10 play.

With McNally, the Rainbows have a much better chance of beating the Trojans at least once, than without him. He definitely wants to be in there this weekend.

"This is the kind of team you want to pitch against," McNally said. "I felt good in my last game (against Oregon State) until I felt a twinge. It's very frustrating."