Rainbow Playbook

at San Diego STATE Aztecs

Coaches: SDSU, Jim Dietz (28th season, 1,119-642-18, .634). UH, Les Murakami (29th season, 1,046-539-4, .660).

Season: SDSU, 26-27 overall (13-11 WAC), UH, 32-17 (11-13).

Probable starting pitchers: SDSU, right-hander Jeremy Cook (6 wins, 10 losses, 6.12 earned run average); right-hander Aaron Harang (7-3, 4.05, WAC Pitcher of the Week two weeks ago); right-hander David Caron (3-2, 5.82). UH, right-hander Rich Snider (5-5, 4.02); left-hander Dusty Bergman (2-3, 4.47); left-hander Randon Ho (5-3, 1.91).

Top players: Designated hitter Tyler Echelbarger, WAC Player of the Week last week after going 10-for-19 (.526) in four games, with nine RBIs vs. UNLV, hitting .339 overall; Paul Lockhart (.332, 11 home runs, 53 runs batted in); Robert Womack (.320, 3 HR, 30 RBIs, 18 stolen bases); Edgar Gonzalez (.304, 6 HR, 33 RBIs); A.J. Samadani (7-3 with three saves, 6.82 ERA).

Interesting facts: UH has played SDSU 138 times, more than any other opponent and leads the series, 73-65 ... The Aztecs won 5-of-6 from the 'Bows last season, including a three-game sweep in San Diego ... Tracy Nakano has a 14-game hitting streak, longest of the season for UH. During the streak he is 24-for-57 (.421) ... The longest game in Rainbow history (5 hours, 19 minutes) was a 15-inning affair at SDSU in 1994 (a 6-5 loss) ... The Aztecs are just 12-14 at home, 14-13 away from Tony Gwynn Stadium ... The 'Bows are batting .310 (vs. SDSU's .301), fielding .964 (vs. SDSU's .950) and have a team ERA of 3.82 (vs. SDSU's 6.39) ... Both teams have stolen 64 bases.

Series keys: Expect the teams to be emotionally high for the series ... Channeling those emotions into productive baseball is very important ... Expect the games to be close, hinging on proper execution and making the fewest mistakes ... Rainbows and Aztecs play a similar brand of ball, always trying to manufacture runs although SDSU may have more power in its lineup ... The nagging injuries to Lars Hansen, whom Murakami would like to catch at least one game to spell Kenn Wakakuwa, and closer Wakon Childers could be huge factors ... Both teams count on their starting pitchers getting into the seventh inning ... The Aztecs swept the three-game series in San Diego last season, but the 'Bows have had some success here, going 13-16 in the 90's.

First pitch: Today and tomorrow, 4 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m., from Tony Gwynn Stadium.

On the air: Today, tomorrow and Saturday, live on KCCN radio (1420 AM).