Lopez on roster for UH baseball trip

Before Tuesday’s departure for a seven-game, 14-day road trip, the University of Hawaii baseball team went through a lifting session.

Players of all statures and statistics were required to load and carry bags filled with equipment and medical supplies from the clubhouse to the airport-bound bus idling in the Les Murakami Stadium parking lot.

“No matter who you are, we’ve all got a job,” said pitching ace Jackson Rees, a junior. “I like the fact everyone gets a job. It makes you accountable.”

Mike Trapasso has used the share-the-load system for traveling in each of his 17 seasons as UH head coach.

“We are all equal members of the team,” Trapasso said. “Unlike some programs, we don’t give all the freshmen all the grunt work. We share the grunt work. When you’re traveling in baseball, there’s so much equipment you have to take. There’s enough for everybody. … I don’t believe in turning the freshmen into indentured servants, especially when they’re an equal part of the team, just like a senior. We all share the load.”

Third baseman Ethan Lopez, who has missed the past eight games because of a sprained left wrist suffered in a moped accident, is on the 27-player travel roster. The right-swinging Lopez has been able to field grounders and play catch. He will take batting practice Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Big West opener against UC Irvine.

“If it feels good, we can jump back in the lineup and get rolling with the boys,” Lopez said.

Kekai Rios, the usual No. 1 catcher, has played third in Lopez’s absence. Chayce Ka‘aua and Tyler Murray have split work at catcher.

Trapasso has had to trim the starting pitching rotation for the Big West’s three-game series. The ’Bows’ preconference schedule featured five four-game series. Against UCI, according to Trapasso, Rees will start on Thursday, freshman Cade Smith on Friday, and senior Neil Uskali on Saturday.

Dominic DeMiero, who has made six starts this season, will be available as a reliever for the UCI series. In the past three games, DeMiero has allowed 13 runs in 21 innings.

“We’ve got to get him better,” Trapasso said of DeMiero. “We’ve got to get the change-up more consistent to where it was last year. We focused a lot on fastball command down in the zone with him. But now it’s about the change-up and being capable like it’s supposed to be.”

Trapasso said if DeMiero does not pitch against UCI, he will start in Monday’s nonconference game against Pacific.

Logan Pouelsen, who had started four games this season, has made the transition to middle relief. He threw two scoreless innings in Monday’s 3-2 victory over Seton Hall.