In need of a shakeup, Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso is making a rare change to his pitching rotation this season.

The Rainbow Warriors will start a series with someone other than Brendan Hornung for the first time, as senior Kyle Von Ruden takes the mound tonight to open a three-game series against Long Beach State at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hornung will slide down to the Sunday start, with Alex Hatch getting the nod in Game 2 for Hawaii (18-23, 7-8), which has lost of eight of nine since temporarily holding sole possession of first place in the Big West Conference.

“I wanted to get an extra bullpen session with Brendan because he’s been out of whack his last two starts,” Trapasso said. “The problem is he throws really good in the bullpen, but I wanted to get an extra one in and get him a couple of extra days rest because with him he gets too competitive and he overthrows and when he overthrows he gets out of sync mechanically.”

Hornung (3-7, 3.23 ERA) has failed to pitch into the seventh inning in four consecutive starts after doing so in six of his first eight outings for UH.

Von Ruden (5-1, 3.01) is the only starter to throw more than six innings in any of the last 10 games for Hawaii, which is averaging 9.4 runs allowed during a five-game losing streak.

Prior to that stretch, Hawaii had allowed more than five runs only once in 20 games.

UH has also committed nine errors since its last win.

“We’re back on our home turf, where we’re not going to make as many errors and the road trip was tough losing that many games, but hopefully it lights a little fire under our bellies,” Von Ruden said.

Von Ruden leads the team in wins and innings pitched and has thrown two complete games this season, including a nine-inning shutout of UC Davis four weeks ago.

He’s benefited from pitching second in the rotation and getting a chance to see the opposing lineup for a full game before taking the mound.

He won’t have that luxury against the Dirtbags, who are in third place in the BWC and would likely make a regional if the season ended today.

“You’ll have to test the waters with some of their hitters,” Von Ruden said. “I’m sure there’s a scouting report by now that we can get to because we’re late in the season, but we’ll still have to test some things out and make adjustments as the game goes on.”

UH will still need a strong effort from Hornung against a deep Dirtbags rotation. All three starters have an ERA of 3.42 or better and have combined for 18 wins.

Sophomore Chris Mathewson, who will oppose Von Ruden, was the BWC freshman of the year last season and has 80 strikeouts in 71 innings.

Left-hander Darren McCaughan is second in the Big West with seven wins and fourth with a 2.31 ERA and Tanner Brown, who will oppose Hornung on Sunday, is tied for third with six wins.

“It’s going to take a great start to beat these guys,” Trapasso said.

Hawaii is one game ahead of the pace of last year’s team that finished with a .500 record for the first time in league play but swept the Dirtbags in Long Beach, Calif.

Mathewson gave up one run in eight innings in his start against UH but lost 1-0. Hawaii used only five pitchers in the entire series.

Shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins will enter tonight’s game leading the Big West in hitting by 24 points with a .411 average.

He’s ranked 15th overall in Division I and is one of 26 hitters batting at least .400.

Freshman Ethan Lopez, who connected for his first college home run last weekend, is currently on a seven-game hitting streak and should see more time in the lineup the rest of the season. He’s played in 16 of UH’s 41 games.

“Getting in there now and getting some playing time is getting me more comfortable at the Division I level,” Lopez said. “In the beginning you get thrown into the fire and you’ve got to adjust and try to get a feel for it and play the game.”