BYU back on UH baseball schedule next season

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

The new University of Hawai'i baseball coach will see some of the program's old foes during the 2002 season.

The school announced its schedule for next year earlier this week.

Former Western Athletic Conference rival Brigham Young, now of the Mountain West Conference, returns here for a non-conference series Feb. 21-23. The Cougars are the top seed of this season's Mountain West tournament, which opens today at San Diego State. Two players from Hawai'i — outfielder Douglas Jackson and infielder Kainoa Obrey — will be juniors next season. Both are 1998 Iolani School graduates. The Cougars last played UH in 1999, their final season in the WAC.

Leading off the 2002 season is national power Florida State, Jan. 30-Feb. 2, for the only four-game series of the year. The Seminoles last played UH in 1998.

Returning for the eighth consecutive season is UCLA, while Sacramento State will be back for a fourth straight time.

One of the Rainbows' oldest opponents will be California-Irvine, which returns to Division I competition after a nine-year hiatus. The Anteaters, who last played UH in 1974 while still in Division II, made its last appearance here in 1992. Cal-Irvine is where UCLA coach Gary Adams started his coaching career and began his professional relationship with retiring UH coach Les Murakami.

The 27th Easter Tournament includes UC-Riverside, Birmingham Southern (NAIA), Lewis-Clark State (NAIA), Hawai'i-Hilo (Division I independent) and Hawai'i Pacific (Division II).

Next year's WAC schedule will debut Louisiana Tech. Texas Christian will depart for Conference USA, while UH-Hilo has not been retained as an affiliate member. With six teams, the WAC reverts to the 30-game schedule format after playing 36 the past two seasons.

Outside of the Easter Tournament, the Rainbows will play at UH-Hilo.