By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

When Hawai'i baseball coach Mike Trapasso was told he had been named the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year yesterday, his initial reaction was:

" 'Come again?' "

Nor was he probably alone in his surprise. Eight losses in the final 10 games isn't usually the kind of credential that clinches a whole lot of post-season honors. Unemployment benefits, on occasion, perhaps, but not many conference awards.

But when WAC coaches (all of whom reportedly voted between Friday and Monday, according to a conference spokesman) filled out their ballots for the coaching award and all-conference players, they apparently looked at these Rainbows in the context of the big picture and the perspective of history. They undoubtedly calculated the merits on the whole of a 29-game conference schedule and recent seasons.

And, judging from the WAC honors that were handed out, what they saw is not unlike what we glimpsed over the 55-game (31-24) long haul that was the 2004 season: progress by increments rather than leaps and bounds.

This is a program gradually turning a significant corner. Call it the intersection of respectability and competitiveness.

Two years ago, amid the bleakness of a 16-40 campaign, it seemed light years away. Splitting a season's six-game series with defending national champion Rice, the way UH did this season, seemed a pipe dream.

Yesterday, the announcement of outfielder Greg Kish and pitcher Ricky Bauer earning All-WAC honors was notable as the first time in four years UH has placed two players on the first team. The overall selection of six players on the combined first and second teams suggested a brighter future, especially with five of the six eligible to return next season.

Not since 1992 have the Rainbows finished second or higher in the WAC and here in 2004, until that final series flame-out at San Jose State, it was something they were still in the running for.

You could drive yourself crazy thinking about the ones that got away against Louisiana Tech, Fresno State and, at the end, San Jose State. Or chronicling the mounting toll of injuries. And many probably did.

There were any number of coulda, woulda, shoulda games that, had they not slipped out of UH's grasp, would have translated into the 35 wins the Rainbows had gone into this season with as their avowed goal and might even have put them in consideration for an NCAA at-large berth. Now, that would have been a breakthrough.

The Rainbows struggled mightily in a 1-5 start and limped to a 2-8 finish. In between, amid a 28-11 roll, we glimpsed what they might someday soon become.

So, the Rainbows settled for their most wins since 1999 and their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1998-99 and the portent of more in the immediate future.

Now, they are poised for a breakthrough season in 2005. One that, when it comes, should not be a surprise and have nobody saying, "come again?"

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.