The only forgettable part of Ethan Lopez’s first collegiate start for Hawaii was the final score.

A 5-4 loss in 10 innings last Friday against No. 19 Michigan featured a wild ninth inning in which head coach Mike Trapasso was tossed from the game and the Rainbow Warriors pulled off an incredibly rally.

The Wolverines led 4-1 and Hawaii, which had only two hits to that point, was down to its final out.

There were still four batters scheduled to hit ahead of Lopez, who had doubled and scored UH’s only run, but the freshman from Whittier, Calif., still believed he was going to get one more shot.

“Just get it to the next guy. That’s all that was going through my mind,” Lopez said.

UH did exactly that. First came an infield single, followed by a strikeout and wild pitch that allowed Alex Sawelson to reach base.

A Marcus Doi walk and an infield single by Kekai Rios suddenly had Lopez at the plate with the game on the line.

He delivered a two-run single to right field to tie the game and although UH ended up losing in 10, it was a night to remember for Lopez, who had to wait longer than expected to see his name on a lineup card.

“I was hurt so I couldn’t really do anything at the beginning (of the season) and it was nice to just to be able to help out the boys,” Lopez said.

A back injury kept Lopez out for much of the spring and he re-aggravated it warming up for the second game of the Hawaii Hilo series.

It kept him from going on UH’s lone road trip of the season and has relegated him to watching from the dugout for most home games.

That looks like it will change as Lopez has started the past three games at second base for Hawaii (6-11), which looks to end a five-game losing streak tonight in the opener of a four-game set against Chicago State (4-10).

Junior Josh Rojas started the first 14 games, but has struggled both at the plate, hitting .170 (8-for-47), and in the field, where he has made two errors but been caught out of position numerous times that resulted in hits.

Trapasso made the switch on Friday and Lopez showed an ability to hit velocity, doubling in his first at-bat against Michigan’s Brett Adcock, who was sitting 92 to 93 mph with his fastball through the first few innings.

“We’ve known all along the guy is a good player but he’s been injured,” Trapasso said. “He’s finally healthy and he’s an exciting player with good tools and great energy.”

Hawaii needs to come out energized against the Cougars. While it’s still early enough in the season that the RPI numbers aren’t of huge importance yet, UH had its RPI drop 90 spots from 84 to 174 during the current five-game losing streak.

Two quality wins against West Virginia (10-4, RPI 34) were wasted with the four losses to Michigan (11-3, RPI 71). Now, Hawaii’s schedule strength will take a hit against the Cougars, which makes winning of utter importance.

If Hawaii can get near .500 after these next eight games, a winning record in the Big West and a good season-ending series against Arizona (12-4, RPI 16) would at least enter UH into the discussion for a regional berth.

“We’ve got to get back to playing the way we’re capable of playing,” Trapasso said after Saturday’s doubleheader sweep against the Wolverines. “We’ve got eight games to get close to or above .500. We get back to simplifying things and staying within ourselves and get better at our executing and we’ll win games.”

Hawaii has never lost in seven games against Chicago State, which now plays in UH’s old conference, the WAC.

The Cougars last played in Hawaii in 2007, losing five games by a combined score of 66-9.