Does a move to the Big West Conference mean an easier nonconference schedule for the Hawaii baseball team?

"Not at all," according to coach Mike Trapasso, who called the 2013 nonconference slate, "as challenging a schedule as we’ve played."

The Rainbows will open next season with home series against Oregon and Rice, which were both top-10 teams entering the postseason a year ago.

According to the schedule expected to be released today, Hawaii will play five teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2012.

Gonzaga and Wichita State round out the nonconference home slate after UH plays a five-game tournament in Las Vegas against LMU, Bradley and host UNLV.

The Rainbows open their inaugural season in the Big West at home against UC Santa Barbara and will also host Cal State Northridge, CS Fullerton and UC Davis. Three of their final four regular-season series come on the road, including the finale May 23-25 at UC Riverside.

"It’s a combination of the caliber of competition and playing on the road … especially in the Big West, where we have two trips where we play back-to-back weekends and then have midweek games at UCLA and Fresno," Trapasso said. "The five-game series will force you to develop depth and test your resilience."

UH played one five-game series in 2012 against Wagner College. Unlike the Western Athletic Conference, which only featured six series of conference play, the Big West schedule is nine consecutive weeks of three-game series, making it tougher to fill out a full schedule.

In order to get as close as possible to the maximum 56-game limit, UH will play more five-game series and will also face UC Santa Barbara a fourth time that won’t count in the conference standings.

Seventeen of Hawaii’s final 26 games will be on the road. UH played only 16 regular-season games away from Les Murakami Stadium all of last season.

"Obviously you can’t complain going into the Big West, but boy, that’s a challenge to finish the year on the road three of the last four weeks," Trapasso said.

The Rainbows, who started fall practice on Monday, open Feb. 17 against the Ducks for the third straight season. UH is 6-6 against UO since 2010.

That series is followed by UH’s first games against Rice since the Owls left the WAC following the 2005 season. Hawaii is 10-32 all-time against Rice, which is its lowest winning percentage ever against a team it has played more than four times.

"It’s as challenging a start as we’ve seen, but that’s kind of become our MO and we enjoy that," Trapasso said. "We enjoy testing ourselves early and exposing ourselves to adversity, because it makes you better and makes you come together."

UH won’t play in a conference tournament for the first time since 2005. The Big West currently doesn’t host a tourney, choosing to instead run conference play right up to the final day of the regular season.

"I go back and forth because there are positives and negatives to the tournament, but the reality is, if you’re in a very strong conference that gets multiple bids every year, you don’t necessarily need a tournament," Trapasso said. "I think when the Big West is at its best and has four teams getting into the postseason, then you don’t need the tournament."

For the first time in Trapasso’s 11-year tenure, UH will play two fall exhibition games against the Shanghai Sports Institute of China.

UH had an exhibition series in 2011 against USC scheduled before it was canceled and Trapasso hinted at possible future exhibition games against major Division I colleges.

"It will be fun to play somebody in a different uniform and will maybe be a chance for some of our fans to come and take an early look at the new players," Trapasso said. "We can’t travel in the fall because we don’t want our kids missing class, but I’m hoping to maybe be able to fly somebody out here to play."