Fifteen years into his tenure at Hawaii, Mike Trapasso is going back to the basics.

The UH baseball coach admitted before Monday’s first official practice of the spring that his program needed a bit of a culture change in the fall after a third consecutive losing season.

Hawaii had its best finish in its three years in the Big West, placing fifth with a 12-12 record in league play.

It struggled mightily out of conference, going 9-20, and was 6-14 in games decided by one or two runs.

“There’s no secret that the last couple of years haven’t been what we’re accustomed to or demand of ourselves,” Trapasso said. “I’ve spent more time trying to see what we’ve been doing different … and getting our culture back to where it was a few years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago.”

What exactly does that entail?

“We went back to simplifying everything and understanding what our identity should and has to be,” said Trapasso, who is 403-392 at UH. “Our past success was always based, in order, on defense, pitching and execution offense and just understanding what your identity is, keeping it simple, and doing simple better is what we’ve gotten back to.”

Hawaii has ranked outside of the top 130 among Division I teams in fielding percentage the past two years and walked 3.48 batters per nine innings last season — the worst total by a UH team since 2008.

That was the only losing season Trapasso had in the Western Athletic Conference after his first year.

Hawaii will replace pitchers who accounted for at least 41 starts and 70 percent of the innings pitched for the second consecutive season, but will do it in a different fashion.

UH doesn’t have the power arm of a Tyler Brashears, who was selected in the 14th round of last summer’s MLB draft after playing one year at UH. It does have more depth and more arms that have what Trapasso described as “pitch ability.”

“We have what I think will be more (strike throwers), and I always say the most important defensive statistic I look at first is walks-per-game average, and if we can get that down to where we’re used to it being, we’ll be able to make up for the lack of the power arm,” Trapasso said. “In this ballpark, pitch ability is going to win games.”

The other way to reverse a 6-14 record in close games is to score more runs, something Hawaii hasn’t been good at.

Since Kolten Wong left Hawaii as a first-round draft pick in 2011, UH has finished outside of the top 245 of 296 teams in the country in batting average. In two of its three seasons in the Big West, UH has been in the bottom 20 nationally in runs scored.

But even in Hawaii’s 2010 season that ended in a regional final at Arizona State, it finished 229th in the country in batting average and 228th in scoring.

Hawaii returns seven starters, six of whom were newcomers last year, who should provide a jump in offensive productivity. The only returnee who wasn’t a first-year guy last season is junior outfielder Marcus Doi, who accomplished the one goal he set for himself in the fall.

“I felt it was a really good fall for me because I played the whole time,” said Doi, who has missed at least 20 games each of his first two years with injuries. “I feel this is a big year because I’m very confident in myself and my team and I feel healthy, which I’ve never really been before.”

Hawaii will add 6-foot-4 junior college transfer Alex Fitchett to its outfield rotation to replace four-year starter Kaeo Aliviado.

Junior Josh Rojas, who ended his summer playing in the Cape Cod League, will likely be the guy to take over for another four-year starter in Stephen Ventimilia at second base.

Five of the six new pitchers listed on the 2016 roster are at least 6 feet 3, which sophomore catcher Chayce Ka’aua noticed very quickly in the fall.

“When you’re 5-9 on a good day and these 6-foot kids come walking in, you don’t miss them,” said Ka’aua, who hit .260 with nine doubles as a freshman. “The (new pitchers) started off better than I thought (in the fall) pounding strikes and hitting their spots and they looked good on the mound.”

The annual alumni game is Feb. 6 at Les Murakami Stadium and Hawaii officially opens its season on the road at Hawaii-Hilo on Feb. 13. The home opener is Feb. 19 against New Mexico.