Rainbows pitching coach Carl Furutani said before yesterday's light practice that closer Jay Spurgeon will start tomorrow's second game with the Utes.
"We hope Andrew (McNally) will be ready to go on Sunday," Furutani said of the often injured senior pitcher from Australia. "We'll go with Robby Robinson in (tonight's) opener.
"Coach Les wants to see how Jay pitches in a starting role. He doesn't like to come in with men on base, so hopefully this switch will work for us."
Spurgeon's 11 appearances are the most for the Rainbows, but he has pitched only 141/3 innings. His 6.91 earned run average is the second best on the team.
But that's somewhat misleading because Spurgeon has allowed runners already on base to score when he takes the hill. On the positive side, Spurgeon has 11 strikeouts. He also has issued 13 walks and hit two batters.
Robinson (1-3, 7.90 ERA) has been the most consistent pitcher for the Rainbows the last three weeks. Murakami would like nothing better for him to pitch well enough for the Rainbows to open a series with a win.
"We need to win a close game to give our team some confidence," Murakami said. "We've played some close games, but we keep finding ways to lose, instead of making a big play to win."
The Utes will certainly be a stiff challenge. Their 2-1 league mark is good enough for first in the North Division. Hawaii is 0-3 and in last place in the West Division.
If the Rainbows want to compete in the WAC, they need to win at least two this weekend. Hawaii has dropped four straight and seven of its last eight.
Utah will try to take advantage of Hawaii's recent problems. First-year head coach Tim Esmay will start Lance Erickson (3-1, 4.70) tonight, Sean Cawley (1-2, 10.54) tomorrow and Rick Clagett (4-0, 4.66) on Sunday.
The Utes have four starters hitting above .300. Dusty Atkinson (.397), Nate Forbush (.377), Michael Heidemann (.373) and Casey Child (.352) have a combined 16 homers and 74 RBIs.
Today: Hawaii vs. Utah, 7:05 p.m.; tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at 3:05 p.m.