The Hawaii Rainbow baseball team will attempt to end a five-game losing streak this weekend at Murakami Stadium when Fresno State visits for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series. Trapasso, Rainbows
try to break losing trendBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comUH coach Mike Trapasso is going with the same starting rotation he has used since the Rainbow Easter Tournament. Chris George pitches tomorrow night's opener followed by Sean Yamashita on Saturday night and Ricky Bauer in the finale Sunday afternoon.
The Bulldogs, who have struggled much of the season after being ranked in preseason polls, are coming off a three-game sweep of visiting Nevada last weekend. However, FSU lost its ninth consecutive road game, 8-3, at UC Irvine last night.
"Our team has been kind of mystifying. We have good pitching, but we've lost a lot of games by close scores by not getting enough hitting," said FSU coach Bob Bennett.
"It's just a matter of putting things together to have a good finish. We've been doing that lately and it looks like we're on the right path."
Trapasso expects a tough series and doesn't think the Bulldogs' 23-21 overall record is an indication of how they play.
"I don't know what is going on, but I'm sure they will play well here. They always do," Trapasso said. "Everyone is good when we're playing them, but if we play like we did last Saturday, then there should be some pretty good games this weekend."
The Rainbows would like to get on the same kind of path Bennett mentioned. Three of their five losses on the recent road trip were by one run and only one defeat was a blowout.
A check of the WAC standings shows two distinct divisions with Rice, San Jose State and FSU clearly the top three teams with winning records and Nevada, Louisiana Tech and Hawaii at the opposite end of the spectrum with losing records.
Yet, last-place Hawaii is just one game out of fourth place. If the 'Bows finished that high, it would be one spot above where they were picked in the coaches' preseason poll. It's not impossible, but with nine of their final 15 games on the road, they have to win at home.
"If we can swing the bats, we have a chance," said Trapasso.
The Rainbows are last in the WAC's overall statistics with a .260 team batting average. Their pitching is fifth with a 5.41 earned run average and the defense ranks fourth with a .962 fielding percentage.
Notes: Coach Mike Trapasso stayed on the mainland after the Rice series to recruit and check in with two early signees who are doing well and drawing the attention of pro scouts --Justin Azze, a left-handed pitcher from Orange Coast (Calif.) Community College, and Tyler Wightman, a third baseman/first baseman/outfielder from Poway (Calif.) High School. ... Aaron Pribble, charged with two balks in the final game against Rice, has five this season and eight in his career, both UH records. ... Rainbow redshirts this year are freshman infielder Derek Snell, sophomore infielder Schafer Magana and freshman right-hander Jeffrey Rhode.
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