UH baseball game washed out

It will be a mad scramble to try to play all four games of a scheduled baseball series between Central Michigan and Hawaii.

The Chippewas (5-7) and Rainbows (9-5) are scheduled to play the second game of the series tonight at 6:35 at Les Murakami Stadium after Thursday’s game was postponed due to weather.

As of now, the teams will attempt to play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

Central Michigan defeated Hawaii 6-5 in Wednesday’s opener, which also had its own delay.

Play was halted for 25 minutes in the bottom of the eighth inning after the power went out.

The field has also been under constant attack from the rain all week, and Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said it was in the interest of both teams not to try squeezing in a game on Thursday night.

“We fought tooth and nail all the way up until an hour before game time to try and play, but we decided to be safe,” Trapasso said.

“We didn’t want the rain to affect the integrity of the game.”

Saturday’s doubleheader will be a seven-inning game followed by a nine-inning game.

The Chippewas aren’t scheduled to depart Honolulu Airport until 9 p.m.

“That’s another reason why we fought so hard to get today’s game in,” Trapasso said.

Hawaii’s rotation is expected to remain the same, with left-hander Jarrett Arakawa (1-0, 1.93 ERA) the likely starter tonight.

Reigning Western Athletic Conference pitcher of the week Scott Squier (2-1, 2.70) will start one of the doubleheader games, with the other starter depending on how the first two games go.

The Chippewas, who have been on the road since the start of the season, will counter with senior right-hander Zach Cooper (0-1, 2.50) tonight.

A pair of Central Michigan lefties in Ryan Longstreth (1-1, 3.45) and Rick Dodridge (1-1, 3.38) are the probable starters on Saturday.