’Bows go on the road early

Head coach baseball Mike Trapasso announced Hawaii's 56-game schedule for 2006 yesterday. It has the Rainbows being tested by four California teams early with three visiting Les Murakami Stadium.

The San Diego State Aztecs, coached by Tony Gwynn, open the season with four games the first four days of February. UC Irvine comes in next for three games. Then, after a midweek game against Hawaii Pacific, the Rainbows travel to Los Angeles for three games at Loyola Marymount.

This is the first time the 'Bows are playing a mainland series before opening the Western Athletic Conference season.

"The last couple of years we didn't take our first road trip until halfway through the season. We didn't play too well on the road. It was too foreign. We got too comfortable playing at home," said Trapasso.

"I enjoy playing on the road, going into someone else's house and playing in a hostile environment. We need to do this to get ready for the WAC."

The Southern California Trojans play at Les Murakami Stadium for the first time since 1993, Feb. 24-26.

The Rainbow Baseball Tournament, with Washington, Arkansas and Texas-Arlington, runs from Feb. 28 to March 4.

The final nonconference series before the WAC starts has Western Illinois in for five games.

Trapasso had to find four games last week when Savannah State pulled out of a series in May. He added a game against Western Illinois, the HPU game, a second game in Hilo against the Vulcans and a game in May at Grambling, the first time the schools will meet on the diamond.

"That's a tough deal when you get a cancellation of four games in the middle of the fall. I had to do a lot of scrambling," said Trapasso.

"I like our schedule. It's a competitive schedule. It will be very interesting in league play with the unbalanced schedule. I am disappointed that we finish our home schedule in April and are on the road the month of May."

Greg Kish, who completed his eligibility last year, is now a student assistant.

Summer notes: Right-hander Steven Wright won the Cape Cod League's Russ Ford Relief Pitcher Award. He was 3-0 with a league-leading 12 saves. Wright had a 0.63 earned-run average with 41 strikeouts in 28 innings pitched for the league champion Orleans (Mass.) Cardinals.

Jonathan Hee helped the Wenatchee (Wash.) AppleSox win the West Coast Collegiate league title by finishing second in the league with a .352 batting average and winning the gold glove for fielding at third base.

Darrell Fisherbaugh had a 2-1 record with five saves for the Solano Thunderbirds, who finished first in the McCullough Division of the Horizon Air Summer Series. He fanned 49 in 40 innings with a 0.67 ERA.

Catcher Esteban Lopez played in the inaugural season of the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League and was named to the all-star team.

Robbie Wilder led his Watertown (N.Y.) Wizards in stolen bases (15) and on-base percentage (.456).

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UH baseball schedule

February

1: San Diego State, 6:35 p.m. 2: San Diego State, 6:35 p.m. 3: San Diego State, 6:35 p.m. 4: San Diego State, 1:05 p.m. 10: UC Irvine, 6:35 p.m. 11: UC Irvine, 6:35 p.m. 12: UC Irvine, 1:05 p.m. 14: Hawaii Pacific, 6:35 p.m. 17: at Loyola Marymount. 18: at Loyola Marymount. 19: at Loyola Marymount. 24: Southern California, 6:35 p.m. 25: Southern California, 6:35 p.m. 26: Southern California, 1:05 p.m. 28: *-Washington vs. Arkansas, 2:30 p.m.; *-Hawaii vs. Texas-Arlington, 6:35 p.m.

March

1: *-Arkansas vs. Texas-Arlington, 2:30 p.m.; *-Hawaii vs. Washington, 6:35 p.m. 2: *-Texas-Arlington vs. Washington, 2:30 p.m.; *-Hawaii vs. Arkansas, 6:35 p.m. 3: *-Rainbow Tournament semifinals, 2:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. 4: *-Rainbow Tournament third-place and championship games, 2:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. 10: Western Illinois, 6:35 p.m. 11: Western Illinois (2), 1:05 p.m. 12: Western Illinois, 1:05 p.m. 13: Western Illinois, 6:35 p.m. 17: #-Louisiana Tech, 6:35 p.m. 18: #-Louisiana Tech, 1:05 p.m. 19: #-Louisiana Tech, 1:05 p.m. 21: at Hawaii-Hilo. 22: at Hawaii-Hilo. 26: UC Santa Barbara, 1:05 p.m. 27: UC Santa Barbara, 6:35 p.m. 28: UC Santa Barbara, 6:35 p.m. 31: #-San Jose State, 6:35 p.m.

April

1: #-San Jose State, 6:35 p.m. 2: #-San Jose State, 1:05 p.m. 7: #-at Fresno State. 8: #-at Fresno State. 9: #-at Fresno State. 11: at California. 14: #-at Nevada. 15: #-at Nevada. 16: #-at Nevada. 21: #-New Mexico State, 6:35 p.m. 22: #-New Mexico State, 6:35 p.m. 23: #-New Mexico State, 1:05 p.m. 28: #-Sacramento State, 6:35 p.m. 29: #-Sacramento State, 6:35 p.m. 30: #-Sacramento State, 1:05 p.m.

May

2: at Grambling. 4: #-at Louisiana Tech. 5: #-at Louisiana Tech. 6: #-at Louisiana Tech. 16: at San Francisco. 19: #-at San Jose State. 20: #-at San Jose State. 21: #-at San Jose State. 24-28: #-WAC tournament at site TBA.

June

2-4: NCAA Regionals. 7-9: NCAA Super Regionals. 16-24: College World Series.

* -- Rainbow Tournament games

# -- WAC games