March Madness has another connotation for the Hawaii baseball team. The Rainbows have played 11 games in the first 16 days of the month, with another five over the next six days at Murakami Stadium. Mad March continues
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com
After a day off yesterday, Hawaii takes the field tonight in the opener of a two-game series with Coastal Carolina (18-4). The Chanticleers received their first ranking of the season, appearing at No. 28 in the Collegiate Baseball poll released yesterday.
Who: Coastal Carolina at HawaiiWhen: Today and tomorrow, 6:35 p.m.
Where: Murakami Stadium
TV: KFVE, Channel 5
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Tickets: $6 Orange, Blue levels. $5 Red level. $4 Seniors, children age 4-18, UH students in the Red level.
Parking: $3
Coastal Carolina will be the second ranked opponent the Rainbows have seen in three days. Hawaii fell to Rice 11-1 Sunday to go 0-3 in the Western Athletic Conference series; the Owls (19-1) moved up a spot to No. 1 in yesterday's Baseball America Top 25.
"We're going to see another very good club in Coastal," said Rainbow coach Mike Trapasso. "It will be another good test for us. For us, we just need to get out there and keep playing. We need to play like we did earlier this season.
"I know we're all disappointed in the way we played against Rice. The way we played, we wouldn't have beaten anybody. I am underestimating it when I say Rice is a very good team. I exchanged an e-mail with Baseball America today, saying Rice was just outstanding, maybe the best team I've seen in 10 years."
The Chants may not be up to the level of the Owls, but Coastal did take two of three games from Pepperdine this weekend in Malibu, Calif.
At this point of the season, Trapasso is still more concerned with his club.
"We just need to go out and play better," said the second-year coach. "I think our bubble burst a little because of how good Rice was. But we're still 13-8, we're still a solid club. But we've still got some work to do and it showed this past weekend.
"I tell the our players we're OK. We've 35 more games to play. The mistakes we made are fixable. That's why we're playing these midweek games, to stay sharp and get into a rhythm."
Note: Trapasso said he may consider seeking a medical redshirt year for junior outfielder Jaziel Mendoza, who is sidelined with a stress fracture of his right fibula. He is expected to be out for another 6-8 weeks, which puts his return in May. Having played in 10 games in the first half of the season, Mendoza meets the NCAA requirement of competing in no more than 20 percent of a team's games.
WAC standings
WAC GAMES ALL GAMES W L PCT. GB W L T PCT. Rice 6 0 1.000 -- 19 1 0 .950 San Jose St. 2 1 .667 2 1/2 12 9 0 .571 Fresno St. 2 1 .667 2 1/2 12 12 0 .500 Nevada 1 2 .333 3 1/2 9 13 0 .409 Hawaii 1 5 .167 5 13 8 0 .619 LaTech 0 3 .000 4 1/2 6 13 1 .325 Today
Louisiana Tech vs. Arkansas
Nebraska at Rice
San Francisco at San Jose State
Coastal Carolina at HawaiiNotes: Tonight is the first meeting between the Rainbows (13-8) and the Chanticleers (18-4) ... Hawaii is coming off an 0-3 outing against Rice last week, running the Rainbows' losing streak against the Owls to nine. ... Coastal Carolina saw its four-game winning streak end Sunday when dropping the second game of a doubleheader at Pepperdine. The Chants are coached by Gary Gilmore (seventh season, 259-171) ... Next up for Hawaii is a three-game conference series with Nevada on Friday through Sunday. Hawaii finishes the month with the 28th Easter Tournament, March 25-29.
UH Athletics
