Baseball Rainbows looking to stop skid

Hawaii puts its three-game losing streak on the line against Chicago St.

The Wichita State and Chicago State baseball teams don't have much in common other than the second word of their names.

No. 12 WSU swept three games from Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium last week. The Cougars of Chicago State might be in the bottom 10 if there was one. They went 7-44 last year and are 0-6 in 2007 headed into a five-game series at UH starting tomorrow.

CHICAGO STATE (0-6) AT HAWAII (9-6) When: Tomorrow and Friday, 6:35 p.m.; Saturday doubleheader, 1:05 p.m.; Sunday 1:05 p.m. Where: Les Murakami Stadium TV: Friday and Sunday games, KFVE, Ch. 5 Radio: Friday, Saturday (first game only) and Sunday games, KKEA, 1420-AM Tickets: $7 in blue and orange sections; $6 (adults), $5 (seniors), $3 (students) in red sections. Parking: $3. Promotions: UH Alumni Association members can get two tickets for price of one with membership card. ... The first 500 fans Friday get mini megaphones. Series: Hawaii and Chicago State played twice in the 2004 Rainbow Baseball Tournament. UH won 12-1 and 14-0.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said the 9-6 Rainbows are in no position to overlook any opponent after losing three in a row for the first time this season.

"It doesn't matter who we're playing. After a series like we just came off of we're going to have to worry about ourselves," Trapasso said. "So it doesn't really matter if we're playing the Yankees. We're still going to work on improving on the areas that we struggled at last week."

The Rainbows were too single-minded at the plate last week, trying to pull too many pitches, Trapasso said. When they did adjust and rap out 13 hits in the series finale, they still lost, 5-4, largely because they left 11 runners on base.

UH also had problems with the running game -- executing its own and slowing Wichita State's.

Three Hawaii hit-and-runs failed, two due to WSU pitchouts.

"I don't think it was a problem with signals, we're pretty good about protecting them," first baseman Kris Sanchez said.

Wichita State stole seven bases in the three games. When the Rainbows did catch the Shockers running on a pitchout, catcher Landon Hernandez's usually accurate arm failed him.

Starting pitcher Mark Rodrigues (4-1) was roughed up in Sunday's first game, allowing 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings in UH's 10-4 loss. Trapasso said Rodrigues might not have been 100 percent physically last week, but doesn't expect him to miss a start.

"Right now I've got him going on Saturday, one of the games in the doubleheader. It depends on how he feels," Trapasso said. "He said he was fine. He was a little bit tight in his midweek bullpen last week. He said it had no effect on him during the start, but he just looked empty. We'll just play it by ear."

Trapasso has Ian Harrington (2-3, 3.90) slated to start tomorrow's series opener, and Josh Schneider (1-1, 2.16) for the other game on Saturday. The starters for Friday and Sunday will depend partly on the availability of relief aces Matt Daly and Tyler Davis.

The coach said he's looking forward to some seldom-used pitchers and position players getting some action this week.

"Absolutely. That's why we scheduled it at this time," Trapasso said. "The five games will be a great opportunity to get a lot of guys out there, get a lot of guys involved. That part will be fun."

Even Hernandez, who has started every game at catcher, will get a break. Kevin Fujii will get at least one start, Trapasso said.

Second baseman Jon Hee might get some rest after aggravating the subluxed shoulder on Sunday that kept him out of eight games.

"I want to play this week because we're going against my (Mid-Pacific Institute) teammates," Hee said.

The former Owls are junior left-handed starting pitcher Chris Freshour (0-2, 9.58) and junior outfielder Chris Goya (.000 in 11 at-bats). Freshman catcher Preston Pires (.000 in 3 at-bats) is a Kalani High School alumnus.

Chicago State is batting .175 and has a 7.50 team ERA. Its lost three games at Lipscomb and three more at the Evansville tournament.

Middle infielder Alex Hall leads the team with a .263 batting average. Right-hander Robert Vargas (0-2, 3.86) has been the most effective starting pitcher.

University of Hawaii Statistics

Through February 25, 2007

Batting

Player	AVG	GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SB/ATT
Sanchez	.421	15	57	11	24	6	2	4	25	8	14	.492	0-2
DuPree	.375	6	16	4	6	1	0	0	0	1	1	.412	0-1
Frash	.333	15	48	15	16	4	1	1	5	19	2	.515	0-0
Haislet	.314	14	51	18	16	4	0	1	6	7	12	.406	4-4
Hernandez	.309	15	55	5	17	4	0	0	8	6	5	.377	0-0
Zimny	.260	14	50	4	13	5	0	0	9	3	14	.315	0-1
Young	.257	12	35	5	9	1	0	0	5	8	8	.409	1-2
Hee	.200	7	25	4	5	0	0	0	3	2	2	.250	1-2
Franco	.189	15	53	10	10	1	1	1	2	9	11	.317	4-5
Catricala	.167	5	12	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	.286	0-0
Asato	.154	10	26	0	4	0	0	0	2	0	5	.154	0-0
Christensen	.149	14	47	3	7	1	0	0	6	8	12	.276	1-1
Macdonald	.143	5	7	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.250	0-0
Roquemore	.083	7	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	.154	1-2
Fujii	.000	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.500	0-0
Totals	.265	15	495	82	131	27	4	7	71	76	96	.366	12-20
Opponents	.278	15	511	60	142	28	0	4	55	30	80	.327	12-18

Pitching

Player	ERA	W-L	APP	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	BAA
Soskin	0.00	0-0	2	0	0	0	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	.286
Wheeler	0.00	0-0	1	0	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Schneider	2.16	1-1	5	4	0	0	25.0	23	8	6	7	10	0	.253
Davis	2.45	1-0	6	0	0	2	14.2	13	5	4	1	10	0	.245
Rodrigues	3.00	4-1	5	5	1	0	27.0	28	11	9	3	13	2	.262
Johnson	3.86	0-0	2	0	0	0	2.1	4	1	1	1	2	1	.364
Harrington	3.90	2-3	5	5	0	0	27.2	31	17	12	6	19	0	.292
Kramer	4.22	1-0	3	0	0	0	10.2	15	6	5	1	6	1	.349
Daly	4.50	0-0	5	1	0	1	18.0	19	9	4	8	17	0	.279
Rhodes	4.76	0-1	3	0	0	0	5.2	7	3	3	3	3	0	.318
Totals	3.29	9-6	15	15	1	3	134.0	142	60	49	30	80	4	.278
Opponents	4.71	6-9	15	15	1	2	128.0	131	82	67	76	96	7	.265