For Mike Trapasso, the University of Hawaii’s baseball coach and a former pitcher, the best part of his job is issuing walks.

Trapasso experienced a chicken-skin moment when former UH outfielder Kaeo Aliviado walked onto the Stan Sheriff Center stage during the 2016 spring commencement ceremony.

“That’s why you go into college,” Trapasso said of the players who walk in their graduation ceremonies. “That’s what coaching is all about. As pleased as we are to have three guys in the big leagues … seeing a guy like Kaeo have a degree, it doesn’t matter what he does in baseball, he’s set. He’ll be successful because he has that degree.”

Trapasso has had opportunities to coach in professional baseball, a workload that would not involve recruiting, academic checks and fundraising. But Trapasso said he enjoys developing young players, all of whom pay a portion — if not all — of their own tuition and school expenses. He begins his 16th season at UH with tonight’s game against nationally ranked North Carolina State.

“I think any college coach gets into the game because of the game, but stays in it because of the relationships in dealing with the kids,” Trapasso said.

The Rainbow Warriors had a collective 3.0 grade-point average last fall semester. Their graduation rate is solid despite players being eligible for the draft after their third college year.

“They tell you they’re majoring in baseball, but they’re joking,” said Trapasso, who shares credit with the academic advisers and summer sessions. “For me, it’s about graduating. You’ll see a lot of guys who are first-time graduates in their family. It’s pretty cool. … Our livelihood in this business is determined by the scoreboard, but our legacy is determined by the kids who come into our program. That’s what we focus on.”

There are 18 first-year ‘Bows on the roster. Two-thirds of the 2016 starting-pitching rotation and both closers completed their UH eligibility last year. The infield has been reshuffled. There’s a new center fielder. Trapasso is optimistic despite recent struggles.

“We haven’t been successful the last few years, but we were before, and we’ll get back to it,” Trapasso said. “We do things the right way and we have great kids and we’re competitive. We were one pitch and one hit away from winning a lot more games the last few years. But you’ve got to get that one hit and you’ve got to make that one pitch. We haven’t been doing that. We’re close, but we haven’t been there.”

Trapasso has spent the past several months developing the pitching staff. Because of the unpredictability of events during the winter break, Trapasso set a moderate 30-pitch goal for pitchers returning to campus this semester. He then increased the pitch limit by 15 for each scrimmage, with the aim of starting pitchers to have thrown 90 pitches in their final preseason outing.

Brendan Hornung, who is set to be the Day 1 starter, reached 97 pitches in a makeup scrimmage Saturday evening after the alumni game was canceled because of heavy rain earlier that day. Dominic DeMiero, the No. 2 starter, improved his pitch count despite missing a week because of a medical procedure in Minnesota.

Trapasso has yet to define the rest of the pitching roles, although clarity is expected in the first 20 games. For now, each pitcher has the same instructions: command your pitches. Hornung resolved his control issues with tweaks to his throwing mechanics; some pitchers will be withheld from tight situations until they consistently find the strike zone.

Trapasso said he is seeking dependability on defense, emphasizing fundamentals over what he terms “salsa.”

“We’re not asking for the ‘SportsCenter’ highlight,” Trapasso said. “We’re asking for the routine play.”

Trapasso’s goal is a .975 fielding average, which should place the ’Bows among the nation’s top 30 defenses.

He also is seeking quality at-bats. For some, that means going with the pitch instead of trying to pull in a home ballpark that is not kind to deep-drive thinkers.

“I don’t have unknowns,” said Trapasso, who has evaluated hours of practices and scrimmages. “We know what the tools are. We know what we have. I need to see them in game situations.”