It’s the reason they wake up at dawn to hit the weight room in the fall.

It’s the reason they sneak into the batting cage fresh off a 3-hour practice under the Hawaii sun.

Opening day is a special tradition in baseball and it happens today when the Rainbows take all of the work done in the offseason and put it to the test against sixth-ranked Oregon at 6:35 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.

It’ll be the 12th opening night in a Hawaii uniform for coach Mike Trapasso, who as usual, will test his team right out of the gate.

The website boydsworld.com ranked UH’s nonconference schedule as the toughest in the nation.

Oregon is ranked in the top-15 of every major poll and as high as sixth in two of them, including USA Today.

"There are advantages to playing weaker teams here and there in your nonconference schedule but we’re not going to change that because that’s what we take pride in," Trapasso said. "I’ve thought (Oregon coach) George Horton is the best coach in college baseball since his days at Cal State Fullerton and as long as George likes coming out here, we’re going to open with them."

UH is expecting a sellout for the first two nights as the ‘Bows take on an Oregon squad that finished one win shy of the College World Series in 2012.

Horton returns seven starting position players, including shortstop J.J. Altobelli, who is hitting .588 (10-for-17) with four doubles, four RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases in his last three games at Les Murakami Stadium.

"They were a national seed, a win from the World Series, and basically bring back their entire team and a great recruiting class," Trapasso sad. "In all these early polls and stuff, that’s the team I’ve put in as the early favorite to win it all."

Oregon also returns all four pitchers to start at least nine games last year, including Friday night starter Jake Reed, who was a freshman All-American.

Left-hander Tommy Thorpe moves into the rotation from his spot as a key set-up guy last year, and Horton will go with freshman Cole Irvin on Sunday. Irvin was rated the 80th best high school prospect in the country.

Horton begins his fifth year since he was tasked with starting up the Oregon baseball program from scratch and looks to finally break through and earn that coveted berth in the College World Series.

"To say we don’t expect to take it a little farther than last year, I’d be lying to you," Horton said. "But there’s probably 50 teams out there that have the same mind-set and there are 300 teams all starting (tonight), so to talk about it is one thing, doing it is another."

All Horton has to do is point to the 2011 season, when Oregon opened here as the No. 9-ranked team in the country but failed to make the tournament.

Oregon, which is 6-7 against Hawaii under Horton, is making its fourth consecutive trip to the islands.

Six of the past 12 games between the two schools have been decided by a single run.

"As a coach there are just certain guys you like to play because there’s no nonsense, no shenanigans or egos or anything like that and we respect the way coach Trap has his teams play," said Horton, whose Oregon teams will continue to open in Hawaii for the forseeable future. "I think that’s evident just by how this series has been."

Hawaii will counter with sophomore Scott Squier, who will be UH’s first left-handed opening-night starter since Ian Harrington in 2007.

"Ready to go, ready to get after it," said Squier, who was 3-4 with a 3.50 ERA last year. "The season can’t come faster."

It can’t, because it begins tonight.