Rainbows hope their bats wake up

Playing at Cal Poly is something new for Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso.

What isn’t different for the Rainbows is their inability to score runs.

UH is averaging less than a run a game on its current road trip, which ends this weekend with a three-game series against the Mustangs at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif., starting today.

Hawaii has scored only one earned run in its past four games, and its team batting average has dropped to .226, which ranks in the bottom 15 in the country.

The Rainbows seemed to have solved some of their offensive problems in their past two home series, when they hit .293 as a team against UC Santa Barbara and Wichita State, averaging 5.5 runs a game.

Since leaving the islands, UH has scored only three times in four games and is hitting .124.

"I didn’t feel like we were very aggressive at Irvine, I really didn’t," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said over the phone on Thursday. "We went in feeling confident after the two (home) series but I thought the first two days (Andrew) Thurman and (Matt) Whitehouse just dominated."

It doesn’t get easier against the Mustangs, who are in the top 50 nationally in both batting and pitching.

Cal Poly, ranked 20th by Collegiate Baseball and 25th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, started the season 13-1.

The Mustangs lost two of three last weekend to UC Santa Barbara, which lost two of its three conference games to the Rainbows two weeks ago.

"The last 10 games or so they’ve been about .500 and haven’t played as good as they were earlier, so we can expect them to come out, especially coming off a weekend where they didn’t do so well, ready to go," Trapasso said. "They’re a complete team."

The Rainbows are on a losing streak of at least five games for the third time this season after dropping Tuesday’s nonconference game at No. 17 UCLA.

In the loss, sophomore Scott Squier flashed the form he had during his early-season dominance, allowing a season-low two hits in seven innings.

He threw more than 100 pitches and might be available for an inning on Sunday.

"Saturday would be pushing it, so maybe an inning on Sunday, but boy he threw well (at UCLA)," Trapasso said. "He found a little adjustment in those later innings to help with his command and he was good."

Hawaii will go with the same three starters for the third straight weekend but will switch junior Matt Cooper and senior Corey MacDonald in the order.

Cooper will start Saturday’s night game, with MacDonald pitching in the sun on Sunday.

"Coop has just shown a few times with the changeup he can be a little more effective under the lights," Trapasso said. "Corey has pretty much been throwing day games all season and he’s been good at it."

MacDonald hasn’t lasted fewer than 62⁄3 innings in any start since the opening series against Oregon and has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five straight outings.

Cooper leads the rotation with a 2.58 ERA but has given up 11 runs in 92⁄3 innings on the road.

At home, he’s allowed just five runs in 352⁄3 innings.

Hawaii is 1-8 away from Les Murakami Stadium this season.

Freshman Quintin Torres-Costa, who injured his elbow in batting practice in Las Vegas exactly six weeks ago, threw long-toss on Tuesday after the game.

He’ll try it again on Saturday and will then pitch off a mound for the first time next week, when the team returns home.

If he throws pain free, he could be back in the mix in the next couple of weeks.

"It’s really hard to tell because a lot of guys can be pain free in their long-toss, but when you start throwing off that elevation, it’s a different ballgame," Trapasso said. "If he’s able to throw off the mound with no pain, then we’ve got something going."