Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso calculated the odds of his baseball team’s recent uneven performances in Big West games.

“From the pitching standpoint, we’ll have a good game, bad game,” said Trapasso, whose Rainbow Warriors open a three-game series tonight against Cal State Northridge. “Every time we have a well-pitched game, we win. Every time we don’t, we don’t. Imagine that. I’d like to get us more consistent with our starts.”

Jackson Rees, who will start tonight, did not allow an earned run in three innings against UC Riverside in a game that was suspended because of rain and lightning. In his next outing, he was chased after 41⁄3 innings. Dominic DeMiero, who is Sunday’s scheduled starter, pitched 81⁄3 scoreless innings against Riverside. In his next start, DeMiero gave up six runs in 11⁄3 innings.

“Jackson has got to throw strike one,” Trapasso said of Rees’ quest to get ahead in the pitching count. “Dom has to figure it out. He has to be as good as he’s capable of.”

Trapasso will tinker with the bridge pitchers between the starters and closer Dylan Thomas, who has 10 saves. Logan Pouelsen, who has struggled in recent relief appearances, is not expected to be available to pitch this weekend because of tenderness in his right (throwing) arm. “He probably wouldn’t have (pitched), anyway, the way he’s been throwing,” Trapasso said.

Pouelsen might be used as a designated hitter. He is batting .268, with seven extra-base hits.

Brody Hagel-Pitt is expected to replace Pouelsen as a right-handed middle reliever. Hagel-Pitt did not make his first appearance this season until April 2. Since then, he has made four appearances, allowing one earned run in 82⁄3 innings.

Freshman pitchers Cade Smith and Jeremy Yelland also are set for bridge work. Smith did not allow a run in 21⁄3 innings against Cal State Fullerton last weekend. After a five-game slump during which his earned-run average was 10.80, Yelland rebounded to pitch two scoreless innings against Fullerton. After that game, Trapasso said he told Yelland: “If you throw like that the rest of the year, you give us a chance by yourself with the stuff you have.”

Trapasso added: “I hope that gives him the confidence that he’s over that freshman wall.”

Two players who struggled early in the season — catcher Kekai Rios and second baseman Dustin Demeter — are hitting .467 and .415, respectively, against Big West pitchers.

“I’m thankful (Trapasso) had me in the lineup, and kept believing in me,” Rios said.

Demeter said being in a slump felt like “you’re in a black hole and you don’t feel like you’re going to get out.”

But Demeter persisted, and “one day you get a little hit, and you say, ‘OK, I can do this still. I’ve been doing this my whole life.’ I started building from there.”

Trapasso said he is pleased with the offensive surge — the ’Bows are averaging 11.1 hits per Big West game — but emphasized the need for effective pitching.

“If we pitch well, we have a chance to win,” Trapasso said. “We’ve shown that even when we swing well, if we don’t pitch well, we don’t win.”