Pitcher Squier not on Hawaii’s travel roster

The Hawaii baseball team left for California on Wednesday without one of its top guns.

Sophomore Scott Squier is not on the travel roster for the team’s seven-game road trip that begins Friday at Pacific.

Coach Mike Trapasso, who was in Seattle on a recruiting trip Wednesday, offered no comment when reached over the phone.

Squier has started eight games this season and is 0-6 with a 3.44 ERA.

He was scratched 24 hours prior to his scheduled start last Friday against Cal State Fullerton and pitched six innings in relief on Saturday, allowing two runs with no walks and five strikeouts.

UH is taking only 24 out of a maximum 27 players allowed on the trip and only nine pitchers, including converted first baseman Max Duval.

The Rainbows play seven games in 10 days, starting with Pacific on Friday.

The Tigers (10-29, 3-12) are tied with UC Davis for last in the Big West, but have been tough at home, beating Gonzaga and UNLV and winning two of three against Long Beach State.

Away from home, the Tigers are 3-20.

"They play well at home, so it’ll be a challenge for us, but we’re at that point in the season now where we’re used to playing at other places," Trapasso sad. "Particularly offensively, they are pretty solid."

The Rainbows will flip-flop senior Corey MacDonald and junior Matt Cooper in the rotation, with MacDonald starting Saturday’s game that has been changed to a 1 p.m. Hawaii time start.

Whoever is on the mound will have the luxury of junior Austin Wobrock backing them up at shortstop.

Despite committing his first error of the season last weekend, Wobrock has paired with third baseman Pi‘ikea Kitamura to form a potent left side of the infield, defensively.

Hawaii entered the week ranked 11th in the country with a .979 fielding percentage.

Wobrock played third base at Orange Coast College before he signed with the Rainbows last summer.

UH recruited him as a third baseman to replace departed senior Collin Bennett. Trapasso always tests out his infielders at different spots during fall ball and decided to switch positions between Wobrock and Kitamura.

"It was apparent right away that this guy was pretty special defensively as a shortstop," Trapasso said. "He’s got such a good first step and great range and Pi‘ikea is as good of a defensive third baseman as I’ve been around in college with his quickness and his hands, so we knew by the end of fall we would make the switch."

Wobrock’s weakness coming in was with the bat, but through 15 games, he leads the team with a .295 average and eight runs scored in Big West play.

He opened the series at Cal State Fullerton bobbling a ground ball for his first error that led to a run, but still got an out on the play, throwing behind the runner at third base to end the inning.

It was his first error in 178 chances.

"Every game it can happen and you’re not going to be perfect," Wobrock said. "I was mad about the error because it gave up a run for us."

The Rainbows (9-29, 4-11) are 2-10 away from home, but 15-3 all-time against the Tigers, who haven’t played UH since 2007.