The University of Hawaii baseball team is rotating its pitching rotation for this weekend’s four-game road series against UC Riverside.

Coach Mike Trapasso said Li‘i Pontes, a third-year sophomore right-hander, will start Sunday’s series finale. Saturday’s doubleheader starters — freshman left-hander Austin Teixeira and senior right-hander Logan Pouelsen — will move up a spot in the order. Aaron Davenport remains as today’s series-opening pitcher.

Cade Halemanu, who has struggled in his last two outings as the No. 2 starter, will be used in relief this weekend. “I want to give Halemanu a break and come out of the ’pen,” said Trapasso, who also serves as pitching coach. “I think that’ll help him similar to how it helped Logan (Pouelsen), and we’ll go from there. Halemanu will definitely be a big factor this weekend.”

Pouelsen had been removed as the Sunday starter after three poor performances. But last week, Pouelsen allowed a run in five innings of relief to earn the victory against then 28th-ranked UC Santa Barbara. That was enough for Pouelsen to return to the rotation — but as the third starter.

“We hope (Pouelsen) can give us a good start and pick up where he left off this past weekend and the way he was throwing,” Trapasso said.

This Big West season, teams play doubleheaders on Saturdays. Trapasso said it would better for Teixeira to move from the doubleheader’s second-game start to the opener.

“Teix has been throwing game three (of the series), the second game of the doubleheader, the last couple weeks,” Trapasso said. “That’s a long wait, particularly on the road. You’re sitting there about three-and-a-half, four hours, before you get a chance to go out there and pitch. This way, (Teixeira) can go to the yard and prepare to pitch right away.”

Trapasso said the moves stem from Pontes’ recent success. In 131⁄3 innings, Pontes has allowed two runs while striking out 10. He struck out five and walked none in 51⁄3 innings against UCSB on Sunday.

“He’s pitched very well this season thus far, and really pitched well on Sunday,” Trapasso said.

Trapasso said scheduling Pontes for the series’ fourth game gives him a full week between outings. “I didn’t want to bring him back on shorter rest because he hasn’t thrown that many pitches all year,” Trapasso said. Pontes threw a season-high 70 pitches, 51 for strikes, against UCSB.

The ’Bows face a UCR lineup that is more prolific at the Riverside Sports Complex. The Highlanders average 7.7 runs at home, 3.6 on the road. They also won two of three against UC Irvine in games that did not count toward the Big West standings. UCI swept UH two weeks ago.

The ’Bows will be short-handed this series. Catcher Dallas Duarte is out for the rest of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Third baseman Dustin Demeter did not make the trip while he continues to rehabilitate a sprained foot.

“We’re a week or two away from having anything definitive in him,” Trapasso said of Demeter. “We’re definitely hoping and planning for him to come back. It’s just a matter of when. We definitely need him.”

But first baseman Alex Baeza, whose right arm was in sling following Sunday’s game, is ready to start today. “Baeza’s fine,” Trapasso said. “He’s a little sore, but he’ll grind through it and be fine.”

In practices this week Trapasso emphasized the standards of pitching to the low part of the strike zone, avoiding walks and beanings to leadoff hitters, playing solid defensively, and closing out innings. UCSB scored 12 of its 22 runs with two outs against UH. “They got two-out hits, and we didn’t,” Trapasso said. This season, UH is hitting .249 with two outs.