Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso has no problem taking the blame for Hawaii’s 0-8 start to the baseball season.

“It’s on me, these first two series,” Trapasso said Monday. “We should be sitting here at worst, 3-5 or 4-4, and we’re not because of me, because I haven’t been able to get our guys over the hump and doing the right things at the right time.”

A change of scenery might be exactly what the Rainbows need as they try to end their longest losing streak in 11 years today in the first game of the UNLV Rebel Classic in Las Vegas.

Hawaii opens with Loyola Marymount (3-5) today at 2 p.m. The Rainbows also face Bradley (2-5) and UNLV (5-3). UH plays a second game against the Lions on Saturday and finishes the road trip with another game against the Rebels on Monday that isn’t part of the tournament.

UH is off to its worst start since 1933 and hadn’t lost eight straight since the end of Trapasso’s first season in 2002.

Senior captain Pi‘ikea Kitamura, who has won two conference titles with the ’Bows, was on the 2010 team that advanced to a regional final against Arizona State. A year later, UH won the WAC regular-season championship.

Those teams started the year 6-10 and 5-8.

“It’s hard to express to these guys that it’s such a young season and nothing is decided in the first eight games,” Kitamura said. “We’ve got to stick together because we’re going to be better than this come Game 50.”

UH scored in only two of 44 innings against Rice and was 2-for-37 with runners in scoring position.

The Rainbows are hitting just .221 as a team with outfielder Adam Hurley the only UH regular hitting higher than .260.

Hawaii’s offense should fare better at Earl E. Wilson Stadium, where balls “fly out” Trapasso said.

Conversely, UH will need to do a better job on the mound throwing strikes.

Long fly balls the Rainbows have gotten away with at home will turn into doubles and home runs on the road.

Hawaii is allowing more than four walks a game, which is rare for a Trapasso-led team.

“I guess there’s no better teacher than experience and I’ve been saying since September 1 that we can’t go walking as many guys as we have,” Trapasso said. “Now all of a sudden that it’s affecting their ERAs maybe they’ll say, ‘Hey, I can’t be walking all these guys.’ ”

UH got quality outings from all four starters against Rice. They averaged seven innings a start.

They’ll need to keep eating up those innings. Hawaii plays five games in five days three different times over the next four weeks.

“I think it’s good that we only got two days off and then we’re playing again (although) I don’t know if it’s good for pitching,” Trapasso said. “We’ve got to find one or two more pitchers, especially now that we’re playing five-game series and we’ll need to have guys like (Patrick) O’Rourke and (Scott) Kuzminsky step up and pitch better because we’ll need them to pitch more.”

Sophomore Lawrence Chew and senior Jon Flinn pitched in five of the first eight games. They are on an early pace to become the third and fourth Rainbow pitchers ever to appear in more than 31 games in a season.

“Chew and Flinn are going to be our rubber-band men and have to be able to throw one or two innings in back-to-back games, but it’s also why we have to find one or two more guys to step up,” Trapasso said.

UH will keep its rotation the same for the tournament, starting left-hander Scott Squier and righties Connor Little and Corey MacDonald in the first three games. Freshman Quintin Torres-Costa would start the fourth game if available.

Here’s a closer look at the teams in the tournament:

HAWAII (0-8)
Conference: Big West
Key players: LHP Scott Squier (0-1, 1.54 ERA, 112⁄3 IP, 11 K); INF Andre Real (.259, 2b, 3 runs); OF Adam Hurley (.296, 2b, 3 RBIs); RHP Matt Cooper (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 102⁄3 IP, 11 K)
Analysis: Rainbows averaging 2.1 runs a game and have been shut out three times. Team’s starting pitcher has gone at least 62⁄3 innings in four straight games.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (3-5)
Conference: West Coast
Key players: RHP Colin Welmon (1-1, 1.50 ERA, 12 IP, 14 K); C Colton Plaia (.321, 3 2bs, 3 RBIs); OF Matt Lowenstein (.269, 3 runs, 3 RBIs); RHP Trevor Megill (1-1, 2.77 ERA, 13 IP, 19 K)
Analysis: Lions, picked to finish fourth in the WCC preseason coaches poll, have scored three runs or fewer in six of first eight games. Plaia is listed as 98th-best college player in the nation by College Baseball Daily. LMU has lost 15 of its last 21 games to teams from the Big West.

BRADLEY (2-5)
Conference: Missouri Valley
Key players: OF Max Murphy (.345, HR, 6 RBIs); DH Greg Partyka (.440, 3 2bs, 5 RBIs); 3B Paul Solka (.556, 3b, 3 RBIs); RHP Steve Adkins (0-1, 5.23 ERA, 101⁄3 IP, 10 K)
Analysis: Braves started 0-5 for the first time since 1972. Bradley is second among MVC teams with a .294 batting average, but is last with a 7.05 team ERA and .943 fielding percentage. Braves have never played Hawaii, UNLV or LMU.

UNLV (5-3)
Conference: Mountain West
Key players: OF Brandon Bayardi (.406, 5 runs, 13 hits); RHP Buddy Borden (1-1, 0.00 ERA, 152⁄3 IP, 12 K); RHP Kenny Oakley (1-0, 2.08 ERA, 82⁄3 IP, 8 K); OF Joey Armstrong (.321, 2 2bs, 3b, 5 RBIs)
Analysis: Rebels were picked to finish fifth in preseason MWC poll and are hosting tournament for first time since 2002. Bayardi has reached base safely in 31 straight games. UNLV has started five true freshmen this year. UNLV is 5-0 all-time against Hawaii in games in Las Vegas.