Trapasso tired of losing but confident in ‘green’ team

Throw strikes. Catch the ball. Hold the runners close. Hit the cutoff.

Get ahead in the count. Pressure the defense. Advance the base-runners.

Keep the ball down, while pitching and hitting.

Get the little things right and you often win baseball games — especially at a spacious facility like Murakami Stadium that plays even larger than it is.

“Our motto is ‘Do simple better’,” said University of Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso, who borrowed the slogan from Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

The Rainbow Warriors open their season at Hawaii-Hilo on Saturday, and the Vulcans’ Wong Stadium also is considered a pitcher’s park.

The 2015 ’Bows failed to master many of the fundamentals especially important in close games. They were 6-16 in contests decided by one or two runs.

If you remove the nail-biters, Hawaii was 15-16.

It used to be sacrilege to even think this for Rainbows baseball, but after back-to-back disastrous seasons in 2013 and 2014 anything close to .500 would’ve been welcome.

And it’s tempting to believe UH turned a corner since that’s what it did in the Big West, going 12-12. But it was an off year for the normally powerful conference, and let’s keep in mind Hawaii lost its last six games to end the season.

Now there’s the matter of replacing the pitchers who hurled 346 of last year’s 463 innings. While this year’s staff will be inexperienced at the Division I level and lacking in fireballers, Trapasso said he’s confident there will be more depth.

The position players are also young, but won’t be as green as the pitchers. Catcher Chayce Ka’aua and first baseman Eric Ramirez were solid starters as freshmen last year. Four other players who appeared in 40 or more games return, plus power-hitting right-fielder Alex Fitchett, a JC transfer from whom much is expected — after he returns in a few weeks from a shoulder injury.

This group is hungry and showed it in fall workouts, Trapasso said.

“There’s a toughness about this club. It’s only been in practice so far, where there’s no scoreboard pressure and no adversity. We see it in their attention to detail,” he said. “Fall baseball is tough when you’ve got a veteran group. You’re doing the same bunt drills, the same PFP (pitcher fielding practice) drills. This group has a lot of new guys, and there’s a relentless pride in their preparation.”

UH had winning teams in nine of Trapasso’s first 11 seasons, and based on attendance fans have remained loyal through the recent three years of losing. But patience is waning even though many of the Rainbows’ woes were due to injuries, especially to pitchers. His current contract ends after the 2017 season.

“I feel pressure because I’m sick of losing. None other than the pressure I put on myself,” he said. “The reality is we lost all those games (in 2015) because we weren’t scoring.”

Hawaii’s trademark excellent defense joined the bats on vacation last season, too.

“Two years ago when we had all the (pitching) injuries we were top ten (nationally) in defense,” Trapasso said. “We have to get better at close games.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads