DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Brian Bock celebrated after scoring against Nevada on April 6. Bock is expected to start behind the plate this season.
The Hawaii baseball team plays four schools in 2003 that qualified for the 2002 NCAA tournament. ’Bows move
to midweekBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comTopping the list is Western Athletic Conference champion Rice. The Owls made it to the College World Series before being eliminated 5-3 by Notre Dame after losing its opener 2-1 to eventual champion Texas.
Wichita State, Coastal Carolina and San Jose State qualified for the tournament, but were ousted in regional action.
Hawaii begins the season with a series against annual visitor UCLA and, following a midweek game vs. the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans, plays Sacramento State, another regular on the recent UH preseason schedules.
The Bruins (26-35) and Hornets (22-33) will be in the same boat as the Rainbows (16-40), out to pull a major reversal of fortunes from a year ago.
The Shockers (47-17) hosted a regional but were knocked out by Oral Roberts. However, 2002 was the 25th consecutive season a Gene Stephenson-coached team won 40 or more games. He was rewarded with a five-year contract extension through 2008.
The other regional teams were Coastal Carolina (44-19) and San Jose State (45-17), runner-up in the WAC.
Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso decided to include something not found in a number of seasons in the 2003 Rainbow schedule -- midweek games.
On 10 occasions, the Rainbows play a Tuesday or Wednesday game, twice when Hawaii-Hilo makes the interisland trip for a single game, twice when Hawaii Pacific comes to Murakami Stadium, and four times on the road.
The other time is when the Coast Carolina Chanticleers come to town for Tuesday and Wednesday night games between the first two WAC home series against Rice and Nevada.
"I like the schedule and like the midweek games plus the tournament," Trapasso said. "A couple of these midweek games present a challenge and some of them will be on the road. Obviously, we won't be going with the weekend rotation, but you need these games to develop pitching depth and to keep the offense fresh."
UH plays at the University of San Francisco on March 5, two days before opening the WAC schedule at Fresno State. The Rainbows have a midweek game at Centenary between league series at Rice and Louisiana Tech. They have two more midweek games at Sacramento State on April 30 and at UC Irvine on May 21.
Three of the midweek road encounters replace the games lost after Arkansas pulled out of a season-opening series against UH the last week of January.
Hawaii begins its home conference schedule with a three-game series against Rice (52-14), March 14-16.
The Rainbow Easter Tournament is reduced to five days with Air Force, Lewis-Clark State and Western Illinois joining UH in the field. The teams will play a single round robin with No. 1 facing No. 4 and No. 2 meeting No. 3 in the semifinals to determine who advances to the championship game.
"We're looking forward to really beginning our first full year with our first full recruiting class under our belt," said Trapasso. "We're going to go out and put the best team we can on the field and win a lot more games."
None of the UH recruits selected in the First-Year Player Draft will turn pro.
"I've basically told the Expos I'm going to do another year of college," said left-hander Justin Azzi, a 10th-round selection by Montreal out of Orange Coast College.
Nick Ponomarenko, a right-hander selected by Montreal in the 38th round, Matt Inouye, a catcher and a 41st round pick by the Boston Red Sox out of Mid-Pacific Institute, and Keahi Rawlins, a right-hander from Molokai High School taken in the 36th round by Philadelphia, attended classes yesterday.
'Bow bunts: There will be an open tryout for walk-ons at 3 p.m., Sept. 5 at Murakami Stadium. ... The American Baseball Coaches Association named Rice coach Wayne Graham Western Regional coach of the year. He will receive the award at the 2003 ABCA national convention Jan. 2-5 in San Diego. ... San Jose State coach Sam Piraro was rewarded for guiding the Spartans to their second postseason trip in the last three years with a two-year contract extension. He is now under contract through 2006. ... Louisiana Tech coach Jeff Richardson resigned in July after compiling a 99-129 record in his four seasons leading the Bulldogs. He cited family reasons for this move.
RAINBOW SCHEDULE
X-WAC game
Feb. 1: Alumni, 1 p.m.
Feb. 7: UCLA, 6:35 p.m. 8: UCLA, 6:35 p.m. 9: UCLA, 6:35 p.m.
Feb. 11: Hawaii-Hilo, 6:35 p.m.
Feb. 14: Sacramento State, 6:35 p.m. 15: Sacramento State, 6:35 p.m. 16: Sacramento State, 1:05 p.m.
Feb. 21: Wichita State, 6:35 p.m. 22: Wichita State, 6:35 p.m. 23: Wichita State, 1:05 p.m.
Feb. 26: Hawaii Pacific, 6:35 p.m.
March 1: Hawaii-Hilo, 6:35 p.m. 2: Hawaii-Hilo, 1:05 p.m.
March 5: at U. of San Francisco.
March 7: at Fresno State-x. 8: at Fresno State-x. 9: at Fresno State-x.
March 11: Hawaii Pacific, 6:35 p.m.
March 12: Exhibition, Matsusaka (Japan), 6:35 p.m.
March 14: Rice-x, 6:35 p.m. 15: Rice-x, 6:35 p.m. 16: Rice-x, 1:05 p.m.
March 18: Coastal Carolina, 6:35 p.m. 19: Coastal Carolina, 6:35 p.m.
March 21: Nevada-x, 6:35 p.m. 22: Nevada-x, 6:35 p.m. 23: Nevada-x, 1:05 p.m.
RAINBOW EASTER TOURNAMENT
March 25-29
March 25: Air Force vs. Lewis-Clark State, 1 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Western Illinois, 6:35 p.m.
March 26: Air Force vs. Western Illinois, 1 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Lewis Clark State, 6:35 p.m.
March 27: Western Illinois vs. Lewis-Clark State, 1 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Air Force, 6:35 p.m.
March 28: Semifinal games at 1 p.m. and 6:35 p.m.
March 29: Third place, 1 p.m.; Championship, 6:35 p.m.
April 4: at Rice-x. 5: at Rice-x. 6: at Rice-x.
April 8: at Centenary.
April 11: at Louisiana Tech-x. 12: at Louisiana Tech-x. 13: at Louisiana Tech-x.
April 15: Hawaii-Hilo, 6:35 p.m.
April 18: Fresno State-x, 6:35 p.m. 19: Fresno State-x, 6:35 p.m. 20: Fresno State-x, 1:05 p.m.
April 25: San Jose State-x, 6:35 p.m. 26: San Jose State-x, 6:35 p.m. 27: San Jose State-x, 1:05 p.m.
April 30: at Sacramento State.
May 2: at Nevada-x. 3: at Nevada-x. 4: at Nevada-x.
May 9: Louisiana Tech-x, time TBA. 10: Louisiana Tech-x, time TBA. 11: Louisiana Tech-x, time TBA.
May 21: at UC-Irvine.
May 23: at San Jose State-x. 24: at San Jose State-x. 25: at San Jose State-x.
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