Rainbows showed glimmers of hope in difficult season

The expectations for Mike Trapasso after 14 years as Hawaii’s baseball coach are pretty simple.

"Win and to play well," Trapasso said Friday. "We’re measured on our win-loss record and there’s no question about that."

Hawaii finished fifth in the Big West this season at 12-12, marking a six-game improvement from last year.

The Rainbow Warriors, who were 17-34 in their first two seasons in the BWC, swept three teams, including Long Beach State, but were 1-11 against the four teams above them in the standings.

Combined with a 9-20 nonconference record, Hawaii finished with a third straight 30-loss season, which had never happened.

The ‘Bows were 21-32 overall, one game worse than last year’s 22-31 record, and are now 59-98 since the start of the 2013 season, when UH left the WAC for the Big West.

UH fared well, with a 7-7 mark, against teams with an RPI between 51 and 100, but couldn’t beat the teams at the top, going 1-10 against the top 50.

An even bigger concern is an 8-5 mark against teams with an RPI worse than 200. Hawaii dropped two games at home to Hofstra, a team that finished 18-29, and split a four-game series against an 11-38 New Mexico State team.

"Struggled early and got better as we went," Trapasso said. "Finished .500 in conference, which was indicative really of how we played better in the second half. We played a lot of young kids, four or five freshmen, which will hopefully bode well for the future getting those guys so many at-bats."

Freshman first baseman Eric Ramirez (.270, 29 RBIs) and catcher Chayce Ka‘aua (.260, nine doubles, 21 runs) finished in the top four on the team in hitting, and Johnny Weeks, who took over at third base for the final 12 games, hit .293 (12-for-41) with a double and five RBIs in that span.

Overall, the offensive numbers again ranked near the bottom in not just the Big West but the entire country.

Hawaii hit .245 overall, ranking 281st out of 295 Division I teams. It’s the second time in three years Hawaii has finished in the bottom 15 in the country and the fourth straight season UH has finished out of the top 245.

Outside of senior Kaeo Aliviado, Hawaii had almost no power in its lineup, finishing 273rd in doubles (64) and 282nd in home runs (nine). The only regular to hit over .270 was junior shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins, who was brought in mostly for his glove, but finished with a .295 average.

"I think that we’ll look back on this year and see the experience those young hitters had will have been valuable," Trapasso said. "The guys that are returning are the guys that had good numbers, and we’ll hope and expect that they improve on those numbers coupled with an influx of new talent and you’re looking at an improved offensive club, no doubt."

Outfielders Marcus Doi (.223, four doubles, 14 runs) and Alan Baldwin (.254, six doubles, three triples, one homer, 20 RBIs) and designated hitter Alex Sawelson (.262, eight doubles, 20 RBIs) will also return.

The bigger questions surround a pitching staff with three draft-eligible returnees who could hear their names called beginning June 9 in the MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Junior right-hander Tyler Brashears, who became the first UH player to make the All-Big West first team, is the first likely target after an 8-5 season with a 1.86 ERA.

L.J. Brewster (6-5, 2.92 ERA) and Quintin Torres-Costa, who didn’t allow a run the entire Big West season as the closer, are also potential picks.

All three helped Hawaii finish with a solid 3.87 team ERA. In conference, UH’s 3.00 ERA was bettered only by NCAA Regional teams Cal State Fullerton (2.09) and UC Santa Barbara (2.45).

If Brashears, Brewster and Torres-Costa, who combined to throw 232 1/3 innings, all sign, Hawaii would have to replace 333 of 463 innings (72 percent) of its pitching staff.

"You’ve just got to wait and see," Trapasso said. "The fact the draft-eligible juniors are all pitchers obviously makes the focal point going into the draft on those three guys, but you have to approach it protecting yourself and looking at what the worst-case scenario would be and prepare for that."

Right now, UH has signed three pitchers for 2016 and at least one, Campbell’s Ian Kahaloa, is likely to sign as a top-10-round pick.

Trapasso, who has two years left on his current three-year contract, won his 400th game this season and is now 403-392 (.507) overall.

He won three coach of the year awards in the WAC and has been to two regionals, but none since 2010.

It’s been a rough road since joining the much-tougher Big West, but the expectations remain the same.

"Year in and year out we expect to win and go into the Big West and win," Trapasso said. "Hopefully we’ll find that the experience of finishing .500 with some young guys is something we’ll be able to improve on."

2015 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII BASEBALL STATISTICS