Only in the surreal world can two head coaches eat pizza and watch a game together while their baseball teams are still competing against each other.

But a few years ago on the University of San Diego campus, Saint Mary’s coach Eric Valenzuela was ejected from a game, banished to a “timeout” room in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Rich Hill, who was USD’s head coach at time, also was having differences with the umpires.

“Two innings later,” Hill recalled, “after a bad call and we weren’t playing very good, I said to myself, ‘You know what, this is the time. If there ever is a time I’m going, this is it.’ I got flipped. I had a chance to go up to the arena, the little room, where you can get your laptop and watch the stream of the game. I got to watch with Eric and eat some pizza. It was a surreal moment, but one that I’ll never forget.”

The two head coaches will face off tonight — preferably on the field at Les Murakami Stadium and not in the penalty box — when Valenzuela’s Long Beach State team and Hill’s Hawaii squad open a three-game series.

For six seasons through 2009, Valenzuela was the pitching coach under Hill at USD. Valenzuela was the point recruiter for Kris Bryant, who won the 2013 Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s best college player.

“I think he’s such a bright, young star in this game,” Hill said of the 44-year-old Valenzuela. “I love him like a brother, like a son, like a nephew, and like a best friend.”

Hill lauded Valenzuela’s skill in working with pitchers.

“He’s such a master on the pitching side of things,” Hill said. “Not only in developing pitchers and recruiting pitchers. But in a game, it’s very difficult to have any kind of plan (against Valenzuela’s teams). I always think he has every sign I’m giving. It’s a challenge, which only makes me better when I play against guys like him.”

Although statistically down from Valenzuela’s first four seasons at Long Beach, the pitchers have a combined strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.93.

“We don’t walk too many guys,” Valenzuela said of the average 3.4 walks per nine innings. “We’ll challenge the zone. We’ll definitely get after it.”

The series rotation begins with left-hander Graham Osman tonight, and right-handers Nico Zeglin and Kellan Montgomery the next two games.

Osman, who is 5-1 with a 3.33 ERA, offers four pitches, including a plus changeup and a breaking ball that is maddening to left-handed hitters. “When he’s on and pounding the strike zone, he’s tough to get some good swings off of,” Valenzuela said of Osman, who launches pitches from a low, three-quarter slot.

Zeglin, a graduate transfer from Gonzaga, will be making his 10th start. He has a 2.72 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and averages 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

Montgomery, a freshman, made his first start last Sunday, not allowing an earned run or walk in five innings.

With Montgomery’s move to starter, Nate Morris becomes the do-everything reliever. “Nate Morris has established his role as closer, but we’ll use him any time,” Valenzuela said. “When the game needs him, we’ll use him.”

Josh Haley, Ethan Clough, Jonathan Carlos also are used as back-end pitchers.

Hill and Valenzuela agree that LBSU’s Connor Burns is one of the nation’s best defensive catchers. Burns has thrown out 58.3% of runners attempting to steal and used his powerful arm to pick off three.

“He’s special,” Valenzuela said of Burns. “He’s a leader. He’s calm under pressure. He’s tough. We’re blessed. We’re going to enjoy him while we have him. He’s a major league catcher. You’ll see him in the big leagues soon.”