Rested Rainbows await WCC champion San Francisco

The wear and tear of a collegiate baseball season isn’t lost on Hawaii’s Matt Sisto.

One of two four-year seniors, the right-hander knows better than anyone how to spend an extra day off.

“A lot of sleeping in, playing video games, and not doing anything,” Sisto said. “You’ve got to take advantage of it while you can.”

The Rainbows got two full days of rest for the first time all year before practicing on Tuesday in preparation for a four-game series against San Francisco starting tonight at Les Murakami Stadium.

After a season-high four days between series, Hawaii embarks on a stretch of nine games in 11 days against teams from the West Coast Conference.

The defending conference champion Dons are up first, visiting Hawaii for the first time since 2008.

San Francisco (9-8) has 21 returnees from last year’s team that went 1-2 in the NCAA tournament, beating UCLA and starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft.

Junior Kyle Zimmer, who outdueled Cole in the tournament, striking out 11, leads a talented Dons staff that ranks 31st in the country in ERA.

Sophomore Alex Balog will make his third start tonight, with Zimmer, who has 25 strikeouts to only one walk, pitching on Friday.

“He’ll be as good as anybody we face,” Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “We definitely have our work cut out for us.”

The Rainbows will counter tonight with Sisto, who looks to bounce back from his first subpar performance of the season, allowing four runs on 10 hits in five innings against Central Michigan.

“That’s the one downside of being a starting pitcher is you have to wait a week to get back out there,” said Sisto, who hasn’t walked a batter in his last 22 innings.

Hawaii (11-6) is coming off a four-game split against the Chippewas in which it scored only eight runs over the final three games.

The Rainbows have been successful when they start fast, winning 10 of the 11 games in which they score first.

Offensively, UH hasn’t had a problem getting men on base, but driving them in has been the struggle.

Through 17 games, only Collin Bennett has double-digit RBIs, leading the team with 11.

The series with the Dons is the first of a wild 11 days for the Rainbows, who will hit the road for the first time on Monday. Hawaii has a single game at Portland on Tuesday, before playing four at Gonzaga, which was picked ahead of USF in the preseason WCC poll.

“It’s going to test our endurance,” said Bennett, who is one of three UH batters hitting over .300. “We’re getting into the groove of things — everybody should be used to what we’re doing — so it’ll be good to face a couple of good throwers like San Francisco has heading into our first road trip.”

Hawaii will stick with its same pitching rotation, allowing freshman Scott Squier (3-1, 2.18) to pitch on Saturday.

Squier has won his past three starts since losing the opener to Oregon.