After being told the Hawaii baseball team was predicted sixth in the nine-team Big West, head coach Mike Trapasso had this reaction: Meh.
“I haven’t seen it, and I could care less,” Trapasso said as the Rainbow Warriors were preparing for Wednesday’s practice at Les Murakami Stadium.
Of preseason polls, Trapasso said: “They mean nothing. … Let’s go play baseball and figure it out.”
Entering his 19th season, Trapasso is the dean of Big West head coaches. He led the ’Bows for 11 seasons in the Western Athletic Conference before the membership change to the Big West for the 2013 season.
In polling of league coaches, Cal State Fullerton was picked first with 68 points and three No. 1 votes.
Cal Poly and Long Beach State were tied for second with each earning 61 points and two first-place votes.
UC Santa Barbara was fourth, followed by UC Irvine and UH.
The ’Bows open their season against Hawaii Hilo on Feb. 7 at Murakami Stadium.
Logan Pouelsen and Aaron Davenport have been tabbed as starting pitchers for the two-game series. Trapasso said there are several candidates as starting pitchers, but noted both right-handers “have been pitching well” during this training period.
Trapasso said Jeremy Wu-Yelland, a junior left-hander whose fastball touches 97 mph, is expected to open the season as a reliever. “There’s no closer role established,” said Trapasso, who usually uses the first 15 games to develop lineups and rotations.
But the ’Bows are expected to receive an offensive boost with the improved health of Adam Fogel and Dustin Demeter. Fogel missed all but 10 games of the 2019 season because of a shoulder injury. He is at the point where he can be used as a designated hitter. Demeter has fully healed from surgeries to both hips last year. He started at short as a freshman in 2017 and at second in 2018. He is a top candidate to play third this season.
BIG WEST COACHES POLL
Numbers in parentheses indicate first-place votes
RK SCHOOL PTS
1. CS Fullerton (3) 68
t2. Cal Poly (2) 61
t2. LBSU (2) 61
4. UCSB (1) 55
5. UC Irvine (1) 47
6. Hawaii 46
7. CSUN 32
8. UC Riverside 18
9. UC Davis 17
