Hawaii baseball team look to regroup after disappointing first half

The University of Hawaii baseball team is ready to exhale.

“There are things that happen in the course of every season where you kind of hit the midway point,” said UH coach Mike Trapasso, whose Rainbow Warriors are 8-12 halfway through the Big West schedule. “If you just step back and take a deep breath, you can see the reason for it. We’ve got some guys banged up. And we’ve got some guys that played and looked a little fatigued. That doesn’t stop us from being able to throw the ball down in the zone, to throw our secondary pitches for contact, to keep the ball out of the air offensively.”

Those are the basic approaches to playing at wind-crossed and spacious Les Murakami, a graveyard for fly balls. The ’Bows play host to UC Davis in a four-game series beginning this afternoon.

“From the pitching standpoint, we have to get back to what makes us successful, which is keeping the ball in the cup,” Trapasso said, referencing the lower part of the strike zone. We’ve got to get back to committing to the changeup. Last weekend was a perfect example. When we hit our goal on changeups for strikes or contact, we won the game. The three games we lost, the changeups were below our goal.”

UH pitchers try to throw strikes or to contact on 67% of their pitches. Against Cal State Bakersfield, Trapasso noted, “the game we won, we were at 78%. All the others, we were at 55% or below.”

The ’Bows’ depth will be tested this weekend. Third baseman Matt Campos is expected to miss the rest of the season with a hand injury. Their No. 2 starting pitcher, left-hander Austin Teixeira, will skip a start because of tenderness in his left triceps. Trapasso said Aaron Davenport will start today, and Cade Halemanu and Li‘i Pontes will pitch in Saturday’s doubleheader. Trapasso will announce Sunday’s starter after Saturday’s games.

Third baseman Dustin Demeter, who is recovering from a foot ailment, will be the designated hitter this weekend. Aaron Ujimori, Nainoa Cardinez, Konnor Palmeira and Bubba Akana are the third-base options. “We’ll have somebody at third, I promise you that,” Trapasso said. “It won’t be vacant.”

UC Davis, similar to UH, has constructed a lineup that fits a home field with deep alleys. Led by Jalen Smith’s 10 thefts, the Aggies are 39-for-54 on steal attempts. “We like to run the bases and put pressure on the defense,” UCD coach Matt Vaughn said.

The Aggies also have found bookends to their starting rotation. Jake Spillane, today’s starter, is 2-4 with a 5.16 ERA, but has issued only 2.41 walks per nine innings. Brett Erwin was the series-opening starter until suffering an arm ailment. Since his return, he has pitched the fourth game of every series. In four Sunday starts, Erwin has a 2.85 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. “They throw strikes, pound the zone,” Vaughn said of Spillane and Erwin. “Not overpower you, but they are going to be around the zone, and give us a chance to win games.”