’Bows take off
for 4-game road trip
Hawaii left today for its second road trip of the season. The Rainbows open the four-game California swing with a nonconference game at San Francisco tomorrow.
UH (22-13 overall) then returns to Western Athletic Conference competition Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Fresno State.
Rainbow coach Mike Trapasso had a simple message for his players after Louisiana Tech's Mitch Tucker pitched a super game to beat the 'Bows 1-0 last Sunday.
"I told them it wasn't like we didn't do anything right, that they don't want to let one tough loss turn into four or five (losses) because they are hanging their heads. We just got beat," he said.
"That happened last year when we took a 4-1 lead into the eighth inning at Fresno and lost. We ended up losing nine of our next 11 games because if affected our confidence. Sunday's loss should not affect our momentum."
Trapasso is looking forward to playing at Benedetti Diamond and squaring the season series with USF (18-21 overall). The Dons, who play at UC Davis today, won two of the three games at Murakami Stadium earlier this year.
The dimensions at Benedetti Diamond are cozy down each line, 320 to left and 315 to right, but it takes a monster shot to clear the center-field fence, 410 feet from home plate.
"That park has some character. It was a blast playing there last year," Trapasso said. "The dugouts are ... on top of the plate, 5 feet away. You almost don't have to give signs, just whisper."
Hawaii will start freshman right-hander Steven Wright tomorrow and Trapasso also wants to have Guy McDowell, Darrell Fisherbaugh and Keahi Rawlins get an inning of work.
The regular rotation of Ricky Bauer, Stephen Bryant and Clary Carlsen will work the Fresno State series.
"I'm really pleased with our pitching. You look at the WAC stats and we lead the league in ground-ball outs compared to fly-ball outs," Trapasso said. "It helps that we pitch in a pitcher-friendly park, but if you don't get ground-ball outs at places like Fresno, Nevada and Louisiana Tech, you get beat."
Trapasso knows his good friend, FSU coach Mike Batesole, will put a hard-nosed team on the field. The UH coach also remembers last year, when the Fresno newspapers were running negative stories about the Bulldogs, and they responded by winning two of the three games with UH.
"We still have to focus on taking care of us. If we do that, the rest will work out," Trapasso said.
