RAINBOW BASEBALL
Trapasso expects 'D' to improve
Defense is supposed to be a strength for Hawaii, but the Rainbows are 4-2 despite 11 errors, including nine in last week's three-game series (of which UH won two) against Georgia Southern.
Coach Mike Trapasso said he's not worried, but obviously he wants the defense to improve, beginning with this weekend's series against Pacific (1-2) at Les Murakami Stadium.
"We didn't play defense at all (last) weekend. We have to get better in that area. That's something I'm not remotely concerned about because defense is still the strength of our club," Trapasso said. "As soon as we get everybody healthy we'll be back to being very good. But we should be a very good defensive club, no matter who we put out there."
Shortstop Eli Christensen and second baseman Nate Young have been charged with four and three errors.
"We're nowhere near where we're supposed to be," Christensen said.
Sometimes an error is caused by a player making a great effort to get to a ball, and then dropping it -- that's what happened on Friday when center fielder Brandon Haislet tracked down a deep shot near the wall, only to have the ball pop out of his glove. Haislet recovered to start a relay that nailed Georgia Southern's Chris Shehan at third. It was a key play in UH's 5-3 win.
Christensen and third baseman Justin Frash also made nice plays in the late innings of Saturday's 2-1 victory. But five errors proved costly in UH's 13-11 loss on Thursday.
Hee works out:
Junior starting second baseman
Jon Hee returned to practice yesterday. Hee suffered a subluxation to his left shoulder when he dived for a ball in the season opener Jan. 26. It was a recurrence of an injury last year.
"He swung the bat pain free. He might be a little sore (today). We'll see how he feels and go from there."
Trapasso said it's possible Hee could play this weekend.
"We'll see how it goes," said Hee.
Also, freshman utility player Jeffrey Van Doornum is "almost 100 percent," Trapasso said.
Van Doornum underwent an appendectomy last month.
Rare scrimmage:
Trapasso doesn't usually like to scrimmage during the season, but he made an exception yesterday.
"It's because we didn't use a lot of pitchers, and we want to keep them sharp," Trapasso said.
Pitchers set:
UH's
Ian Harrington (1-1, 6.75),
Mark Rodrigues (2-0, 2.61) and
Josh Schneider (0-0, 0.00) go against Pacific's
David Rowse (0-1, 12.71),
Joey Centanni (0-0, 0.00) and
Hunter Carnevale (1-0, 0.00), Friday through Sunday.