Hawaii
looking uphill

But Trapasso thinks the 'Bows
can still win the WAC

The Hawaii baseball team's third road trip of the season is a make-or-break affair for the Rainbows.

They need to win two of three games in each of their remaining five Western Athletic Conference series just to finish at .500 (15-15) in league play.

With 15 league games left, the Rainbows (18-22, 5-10) are not completely out of the title chase simply because no team has shown a propensity to dominate in the first round.

"I still think we have a chance," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "I don't know if anyone else believes that. I don't know if our players believe that, some do and some don't."

Putting the three components of baseball -- pitching, hitting and defense -- together in a game for consecutive games has been a year-long problem for the 'Bows.

The biggest clue to their struggles is the overall team .263 batting average. It is down 24 points from a year ago. The difference in the WAC average is greater, .250 vs. .296 a year ago. The result is lower run production by one per game, both overall and in conference action.

That leaves less of a margin for error by the pitchers who are allowing fewer earned runs this year and the defense that is playing at the same level as a year ago.

"We keep trying different combinations in hopes of finding the right combination," said Trapasso. "We have what we have to work with. There will be no more bitching and complaining. We just have to get better."

The Rainbows play their final nonconference game tomorrow against the 24-16 California Bears of the Pac-10.

Ricky Bauer (3-2, 3.81 earned-run average) starts for UH. Joe Todoroff (3-2, 4.47) is schedule to start for the Bears in the 11 a.m. (HST) game at Evans Diamond.

Hawaii leads the series against Cal 26-21-1.

Hawaii then begins the second round of conference play at San Jose State with three day games starting Friday.

Hawaii took two of the three games against the Spartans at Les Murakami Stadium April 1-3, the only WAC series the Rainbows have won.

Trapasso will use his set weekend rotation of Stephen Bryant, Colby Summer and Justin Costi. The Spartans (20-14-1, 9-6) play a nonconference game at Stanford today.

Note: If second baseman Isaac Omura, who is batting .403, ends the season with an average of .400 or higher, he would be the third Rainbow to do so. The others are Greg Oniate, .417 in 1981, and Tom Bhagwat, .408 in 1975.