Hawaii officially begins practice for the upcoming baseball season today, but the Rainbows have not been idle since the end of fall practice. Diamond ’Bows
practice todayBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com"We gave each player a script of what they were to do each day during the break," UH first-year coach Mike Trapasso said. "Everyone had a program for throwing, running and conditioning."
The coaching staff will work with four players at a time on individual needs. The first full-squad practice is Saturday, just 18 days before the season opener against Florida State, Jan. 30.
Trapasso expects at least 34 players to report. It will be 35 if right-handed pitcher Chris George obtains his associate's degree from junior college, making him eligible to enroll in school for the spring semester.
The Rainbows play the Alumni in an exhibition game Jan. 26 at 1 p.m. at Murakami Stadium.
The Seminoles were ranked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason Top 40 Poll. Western Athletic Conference opponents Fresno State (No. 11), Rice (No. 12) and Nevada (No. 35) are also ranked.
Player moves: Danny Vitro has transferred to UH from the College of the Siskiyous. The St. Louis School graduate was an outfielder in high school but was converted to pitcher in junior college.
"He's a left-hander with good arm strength," said Trapasso.
Outfielder Trey Richards, the hitting star of the final fall intrasquad scrimmage, has transferred to New Mexico State, where he will play for Gary Ward, Trapasso's college coach at Oklahoma State.
Tournament format: The 27th Rainbow Easter Tournament format will be a single round-robin. The team with the best record after seven games will be the champion. Each team will have one day off during the tournament. The change came about when San Jose State coach Sam Piraro told Trapasso the Spartans had to return to the mainland on the final day of the tournament, March 31. The Spartans play UH in a WAC series prior to the tournament.
Trapasso is finding it difficult to bring quality teams in for the tournament. The 2003 tournament may be limited to four teams. He expects to move the tournament to the first week in March or even the last week in February in future years.
This would make it easier for Trapasso to secure top teams because most conferences do not begin play that early.
Future opponents: Just the opposite was true for Trapasso when it came to scheduling nationally known teams for a weekend series prior to the start of WAC competition. The Rainbows will play Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, UCLA, Wichita State and Florida International during the next two seasons.
Academic center: Murakami Stadium now has its own study facility, the Verizon Academic Center, thanks to Warren Haruki, president of Verizon Hawaii.
Verizon donated four PCs and three lap tops for the center. The lap tops will be available to the players for academic work on road trips.
The center, next to the visitors locker room, has been painted and, as soon as the new carpet is installed, will be operational.
"In conjunction with the Nagatani Academic Center, this will allow our kids the full spectrum of support," Trapasso said.