When Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said it was time for the Rainbows to get out of their "comfort zone," snow and rain weren’t exactly what he had in mind.

Those are just some of the elements the Rainbows are fighting as they try to get their first road trip of the season under way today in the first of four scheduled games at Gonzaga.

As one player put it, the Rainbows went "from cold to colder," arriving in Spokane, Wash., on Wednesday after their game at Portland on Tuesday was canceled due to weather.

By late afternoon, a light snow was falling outside of the team’s hotel. The forecast calls for more snow today with temperatures expected to hover around the mid-to-low 30s around the scheduled first pitch at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.

Senior Collin Bennett is one of the few Rainbows who is used to these conditions. The Bellevue, Wash., native played in similar weather his freshman season at Tacoma Community College before transferring to Hawaii, partly to avoid going through this again.

"When I came out (to Hawaii), I appreciated playing in warm weather so much more, because when you grow up playing in cold weather you don’t really know the difference," said Bennett, who is hitting .306 with two doubles and a team-high 12 RBIs.

The UH senior expects to have a vocal cheering section at Washington Trust Field. He said his grandparents are flying down from Alaska to join the rest of his family making the trip from Western Washington.

"I was a UW fan growing up, so Gonzaga is kind of like the forgotten school (in Washington)," Bennett said. "But I played with a bunch of guys on Gonzaga in summer ball so I know that team pretty well."

After starting the season with 10 straight wins, the Zags are 12-6 as they begin their longest homestand of the season.

Gonzaga will start lefties in the first three games of the series, including sophomore Marco Gonzales on Saturday. Gonzales has won 14 straight decisions, which is the longest streak among NCAA Division I pitchers.

He’s also the team’s leading hitter, batting .378 with a home run and 13 RBIs, starting at first base when he’s not on the mound.

Hawaii, which is 4-2 against lefty starters, has held teams to three runs or fewer in 17 of 21 games this season.

The Rainbows (14-7) entered the week 11th in the country with a 2.39 ERA and have nine pitchers sporting a 2.19 ERA or better.

Three of them are freshmen who will be tested away from home for the first time.

"As well as some of these freshmen have performed at home, we don’t really know how they are going to perform playing in a hostile environment with the fans against them," Trapasso said after Sunday’s 3-2 win over San Francisco. "If you’re going to be successful in this game, you’ve got to win on the road."

Hawaii also starts as many as four freshmen in its lineup, including leadoff hitter Stephen Ventimilia, who is hitting a team-best .324 with 18 runs and six stolen bases. After a 4-for-8 weekend against the Dons, freshman Trevor Podratz has entrenched himself in the designated hitter role, upping his average to .283 with six RBIs.

Reliever Jesse Moore, one of two fourth-year seniors for the Rainbows, expects his young teammates to do just fine.

"We’ve talked about it and the thing is, everybody likes going on the road and playing in front of new fans, even though we love ours," said Moore, who has two of UH’s seven saves. "We enjoy being the underdog and when you’re on the road, you’re pretty much the underdog."

Senior Matt Sisto, who started against Gonzaga when the teams last met in 2010, can match a career high with his fifth win of the season today. He has only walked two batters in 3 2⁄3 innings, ranking ninth in the country in walks allowed per nine innings.

KKEA, 1420-AM, will broadcast all four games of the series, which can be watched online for a fee through Gonzaga’s website at gozags.com.