GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mike Trapasso, left, had a bumpy first year after taking over the UH baseball team from Les Murakami.
Trap’s transition tough The Hawaii Rainbows returned to campus last September and spent the fall semester adjusting to a new staff while the coaches attempted to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each player.
The Rainbows went 16-40 in his
first year as coach thanks to poor
hitting; the only way to go in 2003 is upBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe 2002 season was a year of transition, a huge transition, the biggest since the program went to an all-collegiate schedule in 1975.
New coach Mike Trapasso wanted a team that played defense and pitchers who threw strikes. The lineup would be dictated by how well the position players performed.
"Pitching was by far the biggest concern going into the season and that was before Chris George showed up. I thought we were very thin and had no power arms. Bryan Lee was the only guy in that category," said Trapasso.
The pitchers issued 30 fewer walks than the year before and had a strikeout/walk ratio of a little better than 2 to 1.
"Now, looking back, from a pitching standpoint from what we had to work with, if you told me going into the season we were going to have an earned run average of about 5.50, I would have taken that," said Trapasso.
"The pitching was positive. Those guys kept us in the game most of the time where if we had hit a little better we would have been a .500 team, which I thought we would be when the season started."
No one was surprised when the 'Bows didn't hit that well against Florida State, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, in the four-game series season opener. Even losing two of three games to Sacramento State didn't raise a red flag because the following week the Rainbows shredded the UCLA pitching staff for 44 hits to sweep the three-game series.
Then, in the Brigham Young and UC Irvine series, the 'Bows started losing close games where one key hit would have meant victory. It didn't get any better when Rice, Fresno State and San Jose State came to town for the first nine Western Athletic Conference games of the season.
"We were one hit away from sweeping Sac State and BYU. If you get the big hit, it becomes contagious. Instead, we struggled and that became contagious," said Trapasso.
"The biggest surprise of the season was how anemic we were offensively. No one can envision an offensive year like that. It's hard to hit .250 as a team with metal bats.
"Any time you bring in a new staff there are going to be some changes and differences in philosophies. It's not unusual to see guys struggle early. We didn't make any drastic changes and I don't believe in cloning players. Usually, when you struggle, you start to figure things out as the season goes on and we just didn't have that."
The team batting average dropped 40 points from the 2001 season with basically the same hitters minus Pat Scalabrini and Matt Purtell, but with the addition of Brent Cook.
Trapasso wanted a set lineup by the time the WAC season opened. That never happened. There were some injuries, but the changes in the lineup, especially in the order, were made in hopes of finding a consistent offense.
Six players were tried in the leadoff spot. Five players were in the second spot, followed by No. 3 (4), cleanup (4), No. 5 (8), No. 6 (9), No. 7 (10), No. 8 (10) and No. 9 (8).
Trapasso found his defense to be solid, but there were games where one error cost one run and that was the difference.
"With our offense, the impact of errors was exaggerated," said Trapasso.
He thinks the WAC is a very competitive baseball league and underrated. Trapasso found the pitching, for the most part, to be better than he expected.
"I spent the whole season looking at pitchers who were strapping us. They weren't always that good, but they were pitching against us," said Trapasso.
The 16-40 record is in the books, in Trapasso's mind, the only way left to go in 2003 is up.
UH Athletics
