There are several chickenskin inducements for the Hawaii baseball team entering today’s opener of a three-game road series against Louisiana State.

LSU was the national runner-up at the 2017 College World Series. The Tigers are ranked as high as 13th in one of the baseball polls. Alex Box Stadium drew an average of 10,640 fans last year, the 22nd consecutive season the Tigers led the nation in attendance. UH coach Mike Trapasso, whose demeanor is as cool as Freon, was unabashedly enthused with his room with a view.

“I’m looking out the window of my hotel at a Waffle House,” Trapasso said in a telephone interview. “It’s just across the street. You have not lived until you’ve eaten at a Waffle House, my friend. … The hash browns, scattered and smothered in butter, they’re great.”

There is no syrup-coating the reality that this 4,136-mile trip is daunting.

“We’ll have to play our best,” Trapasso said. “They’re LSU. They’re one of the premier programs in the history of college baseball. The team is very offensive. Their slugging percentage (.451) is off the charts. It’ll be a great test, a great opportunity for our guys. With every challenge comes an opportunity.”

The ’Bows are fourth nationally in earned-run average (1.74). Starting pitchers Jackson Rees, Dominic DeMiero, Neil Uskali and Logan Pouelsen have combined for a 1.52 ERA and 0.94 WHIP.

“We’re feeding off each other,” said Rees, who is 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA. The pitchers are following Trapasso’s directive of “filling the cup” — the baseball vernacular for low-in-the-zone pitches — and not trying to over-throw or be too finicky.

“Throw to contact,” Pouelsen said. “We have a good enough defense behind us that we’ll get outs.”

Rees and DeMiero will start the first two nights of the series. Trapasso said he has not decided between Uskali and Pouelsen for Sunday’s start. Opponents are hitting .137 against Pouelsen and .175 vs. Uskali. Both right-handers are tough against left-swinging batters — .143 against Pouelsen, .120 against Uskali.

“I put down TBA for Sunday,” Trapasso said. “We don’t have to decide until Sunday. We’ll see what happens. If we need Logan to come out of the bullpen on Saturday to help us win a game, we can do that. It’s a matter of deciding after we take a look at them. But there’s nothing that says those two can’t split the game on Sunday.”

The ’Bows’ 27-player travel roster includes four catchers. Chayce Ka‘aua and Tyler Murray have shared the catching duties the past six games while Kekai Rios recovers from a hamstring injury. Rios is on this trip. Trapasso said Rios feels better, and there is optimism he will be available, at least as a designated hitter.

Last year, the ’Bows benefited from a nonconference tournament in Minnesota.

“The Minnesota trip was when we started hitting as a team and people started driving in runs and the pitching was outstanding,” outfielder Adam Fogel said. “It kind of carried on from there. Hopefully, we can do the same thing this year.”