And that's good for the University of Hawai'i baseball team, as it seeks its first win of the season in a three-game series against Cal State Northridge starting tonight at Les Murakami Stadium.

Madison is the 9-month-old daughter of Rainbows' senior outfielder Josh Green. When she entered the world on May 2, she made him a better person. That in turn made him a better player.

"We talked about it, having his little girl," said UH batting coach Brian Green (no relation). "It's really helped him become a mature player."

Proof came opening night, when the left-handed hitting Green, in his first at-bat of the season, crushed Texas pitcher Justin Simmons' pitch onto the road behind the right field fence. He went 2 for 3 the rest of the game and finished the series 6 for 13 (.462).

"Last year, Josh hits that home run, he might not get another hit the rest of the series because he's going to swing for the fence the rest of the time," Brian Green said. "But if you looked at how he progressed throughout the series, he had a bunch of ground ball base hits up the middle. Everything was up the middle. That's the maturity that's changed him this year."

Josh Green transferred from Feather River College in Quincy, Calif., where he was a two-time all-Golden Valley Conference selection after graduating from Galena High in Reno, Nev. Last year, he batted .250 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 21 RBIs. His home runs came more than a month apart. Following his first home run, he went 1 for 11.

"I've come to understand that you have to be able to adjust because you're not going to get a ball to drive out of the park every time," Josh Green said.

But maturity isn't limited to better plate discipline. Raising Madison with fianceè Jennifer Peterson has meant being responsible to his family, too.

"Before, I was just relying on baseball for opportunities to support myself and my family," he said. "But now I understand that my days are numbered in baseball, so I have to take full advantage of the education I'm getting here at the university. (Madison) really helps me to remember that, so I work extra hard in the classroom and I've actually brought my GPA up almost like a full point."

Josh Green said his grade point average from the fall semester was 3.2. The sociology major is targeting graduation in December. He hopes to play pro ball. If not, he wants to get into coaching at the collegiate level.

He admitted his mind wasn't completely on baseball last season when Peterson was pregnant. She was in Reno most of the time. Peterson was here for a couple of months before she was due, then returned to Reno. Coincidently, when the Rainbows were scheduled to play a Western Athletic Conference series at Nevada, Peterson went into labor the day the Rainbows arrived. Josh Green missed the first game of the series to be with Peterson.

"He slept through the whole time I was in labor," Peterson said. "He was out because he had just gotten into Reno from Hawai'i, so the whole time I was in labor — not pushing or anything, just having my contractions, the most painful part — he was asleep. We woke him up when I had to have a (caesarean section). So everything was real dramatic and he was really scared. I was really scared. But everything turned out really good. When he came out holding the baby, it was the first time he ever held a baby. He was holding her real close and scared. It was really cute. We have a picture of that."

Although Madison was five pounds, 15 ounces, Josh Green said when he carried her, it felt as if she was 20 pounds because he was so nervous holding her.

"I was making sure I was careful with everything," he said. "I wasn't breathing on her, making sure she doesn't get germs from me or something. It was a life-changing experience, a really good one for me."

Picking Madison's name was easy. Green and Peterson were high school sweethearts. She said when they were sophomores, they talked about what they would name their children. While they could not agree on a boy's name, they were unanimous on Madison.

"The thing about her name is back then, not very many people had that name and now, it's like the No. 1 name," Peterson said. "I read that in an article that it was the No. 1 name."

Madison will have a playmate soon with the same last name. Batting coach Green's wife, Becky, is expecting their first child next month. Like Josh Green, Brian Green's baby also will be a girl. The soon-to-be parents already have a named picked out: Emily.

With Brian Green getting primed for fatherhood, talk in the batting cage is interesting these days.

"When we're down in the cage sometimes, we'll be in the middle of swinging and talking baseball, then all of a sudden it will be, 'Hey, did Jenny ever do this because Becky's saying that the baby's kicking.' " Josh Green said. "He'll just ask me a bunch of questions."

"I'm asking him for pointers all the time," Brian Green said. "Now he's teaching me. We're teaching each other."