Hawaii baseball team gets a rare fall series

Fans have never had a chance to see the Hawaii baseball team play in the fall under coach Mike Trapasso.

That will change tonight.

For the first time in Trapasso’s 11 years, the Rainbows will play two exhibition games at Les Murakami Stadium, today and Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Hawaii will host Shanghai Sports Institute of China in two nine-inning games, giving as many as 16 newcomers a chance to get their first action in a Rainbows uniform.

"I don’t know what to expect from the Shanghai Sports Institute or really how many people we’ll have come watch, but the neat thing is it’s open to the public for free," Trapasso said.

UH will wear regular uniforms so fans can at least track players by their numbers.

The Rainbows may even allow free substitutions, allowing the flexibility to make sure everyone plays.

The only players who won’t play are pitchers who have been shut down for the fall and players who may redshirt the upcoming season.

"My goal is just to play everybody, position-player wise, for the most part," Trapasso said.

Trapasso said he’s shut some pitchers down for the fall, including returnees Jarrett Arakawa and Lawrence Chew.

Arakawa pitched a full summer in the Cape Cod League, where he earned all-league honors for the Orleans Firebirds, posting a 1.82 ERA with two walks and 28 strikeouts.

Chew, a sophomore, played with Stephen Ventimilia to help Wenatchee win the West Coast League championship.

He started six games and went 2-2, pitching 44 innings with 35 strikeouts to finish with a 2.25 ERA.

Trapasso also said close to a half-dozen incoming recruits have been shut down because of excessive innings over the summer and that he won’t know much about the makeup of his pitching staff until spring ball in January.

"We’ve only been practicing here for a week and a half now, but we have some new guys that have definitely shown they will be playing some significant games and innings for us this year," he said.

Trapasso added he’ll likely start fifth-year senior Connor Little tonight. Little hasn’t pitched for UH in nearly two years after an ankle injury forced him to miss all of last season.

Most of the pitching will coincide with the days they would normally throw in practice, although Trapasso said he’d move a few pitchers up a day so they could pitch in Wednesday’s game.

Elevator down

Fans accustomed to using the elevator for easier access to the upper levels of the stadium will be out of luck this week.

As of Saturday the elevator had not been fixed after it broke down over the summer. Trapasso said it wasn’t expected to be ready for use until later this year.

The only way to get to the seating levels are by two levels of stairs on each side of the entrance once you get into the stadium.

Fresh faces

16 newcomers are listed on the 2012 UH fall baseball roster:

OF Carlos Martinez, Fr.
INF Andre Real, Fr.
INF Jerry Kleman, Jr.
LHP/OF Quintin-Torres-Costa, Fr.
OF Adam Hurley, Jr.
INF Austin Wobrock, Jr.
1B Marc Flores, Jr.
RHP Bryan Burgher, So.
LHP Andrew Jones, Jr.
INF LJ Brewster, Fr.
RHP Scott Kuzminsky, Jr.
C Tyler Young, Jr.
INF Kaden Kamoe, Jr.
RHP Jonathan Lopez, Fr.
RHP Matt Cooper, Jr.
LHP Shane Grace, Fr.