The players left last Wednesday morning full of hope of somehow rediscovering themselves at San Jose State. Instead, they found more of the same.
Twice, the Spartans scored in double figures en route to sweeping the Rainbows in their first Western Athletic Conference series of the season.
Hawaii is 0-3 in West Division play and 5-17 overall entering this weekend's three-game league series with the University of Utah.
So far this season, opponents have scored at least 10 runs in 14 of the Rainbows' games with Hawaii losing all but one of those. That's a staggering 64 percent that's highlighted even more considering Hawaii is only six games away from the halfway point of the 1997 schedule.
The Rainbows yielded 24 earned runs in 22 innings this weekend to raise their ERA to a mind-boggling 8.58. If the pitching continues to be a problem of this magnitude, Hawaii head coach Les Murakami will be fortunate to win 15 games.
"The key for us is how healthy Andrew McNally will be," Murakami said last night. "He injured a muscle lower down on the leg that's been bothering him all year. We're not sure if he's going to be ready this weekend for Utah. In fact, the only pitcher in the rotation I know about is Robby Robinson."
Injuries and academic casualties early on have limited what Murakami can do. His bullpen is already stretched to the limits. So much so that Murakami was forced to use Jamie Aloy - his starter in game three - as a reliever in game two. It proved costly.
The freshman wasn't up to the task of stopping the Spartans in relief after Hawaii took a 6-4 lead in the fifth inning of the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
He was tagged with the loss, despite pitching only one-third of an inning. Unfortunately for the Rainbows, Aloy lasted 3-1/3 innings in the second game, but gave up five runs en route to dropping his second game of the day.
Hopes of Jay Spurgeon becoming the closer continued to fade after he blew Friday's game. Granted, he came in with the bases loaded, but needed only one out to preserve McNally's lead.
Instead, he beaned the first batter to tie the game, then yielded a bases-clearing double to set the tone for the weekend.
"We had our chances to win two games and we didn't," Murakami said. "Our kids are still young and don't know how to win close games yet. That's a problem.
"Winning breeds winning. If you continue to lose close games late, then it's hard to break out of that. San Jose State really wasn't that good. I couldn't believe we were losing to those guys."
The Spartans were picked to finish last in their division in a preseason poll by the coaches. Now, San Jose State is in first with a 5-1 league mark. Hawaii is 0-3 and in desperate need of a sweep this weekend.
"Our kids were really flat in the last game," Murakami said of the 11-1 loss. "But I know these guys aren't going to quit. They're going to continue to work hard to get better.
"The thing is, our pitching hasn't been there when we needed it. Andrew pitched better than the numbers show. I know he gave up 19 hits, but 10 of those were bloops over the infield."
The resulting 11 earned runs raised his ERA to 8.24. Aloy maintains the team's best ERA at 6.85, but has the worst record at 1-6.
To make matters worse, the Rainbows aren't hitting the ball all that well, either. Robert Medeiros is the only regular with a batting average above than .300.
He's hitting .313. The senior also leads the Rainbows in RBIs with 21 and stolen bases with 11. Last year's top hitter, Neal Honma, continues to battle through a slump. His average has fallen to .283. Over the weekend, the leadoff hitter was 1-for-12.
"We need our older guys to come through to take some pressure off the younger players," Murakami said. "Right now, we're struggling, but I still believe we can turn things around."