At the time, Omura wasn't sure who was going to succeed Finegan, whose eligibility ended after last season and he has since been drafted and signed by the Cleveland Indians. But it appears freshman Joe Spiers, the California Interscholastic Federation record-holder for hitting in 46 consecutive games (breaking Jason Kendall's mark of 44), has established himself as Finegan's successor after a close battle with sophomore Troy Hanzawa. Still, Hanzawa could see some playing time, UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

"Spiers is somebody who can be a real exciting player," Trapasso said. "He gives you offensive potential early in the order. He has speed, can swing the bat. When he gets on base, he has that passion for stealing bases."

Spiers, ranked 42nd in Baseball America's Fab 50 Freshmen, had been touted for last year's draft, but went unpicked.

"No disappointment," Spiers said. "The plan was to go to school all along. If I was drafted, great, but if I wasn't, no disappointment. Hopefully, in two years, I'll be a high draft pick."

But the player UH is looking for big things from is Omura, an all-WAC second-team pick last season and called "the best defensive second baseman" in the WAC by Baseball America.

"He's going to anchor our defense and he's the guy we really want to have a break-out year," Trapasso said of Omura. "He's been right at .300 the last couple years. For us to go, Isaac having a good year would go a long way in accomplishing the goals we set for our team. He needs to play the best defense he's always have, needs to be less streaky, and needs to be more consistent."

After starting the season 6 for 35, Omura posted an 11-game hitting streak, finishing the season at .313 with four home runs and 24 RBIs. He followed up with a hot summer with the Anchorage Bucs of the Alaska Baseball League, where he earned all-league honors by hitting .350 with 19 extra-base hits and 28 RBIs.

Third base returns familiar faces with Schafer Magana (.270, 18 RBIs) and Rocky Russo (.290, 4 HRs, 33 RBIs), who was the WAC coaches' preseason pick for all-league honors. Both shared the spot last season.

Trapasso said Magana has the nod for now with Russo in the mix at DH, too. But also showing potential is redshirt freshman Jonathan Hee, yet another Mid-Pacific product in the program.

"Before his career is over, he will be playing a lot," Trapasso said of Hee. "He just has to continue to get stronger. He might be our best defensive third baseman right now."

New faces also will be at first base with the loss of slick fielding Andrew Sansaver.

Junior college transfers Adam Roberts, who also can play third base, and Luis Avila, who played for the Island Movers over the summer, are the front runners for the position.

"Both those guys are running neck and neck," Trapasso said. "They're both going to play quite a bit over there. There are days we might see both in the lineup, one playing first, one DHing."

Avila, who is from Caracas, Venezuela, said he was recruited by Alabama, Oklahoma State and Texas. In fact, he said he was supposed to play for Alabama, which opens the season here against UH on Thursday, but that fell through. He was pleased that UH offered him a chance.

"I was having fun here," Avila said of his stint with the Movers.

Avila played at Eastern Oklahoma State, where he led the team in hitting at .418 and 16 home runs and shared the team lead with 57 RBIs.

Roberts batted .388 with four home runs, 23 RBIs and nine steals in making the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Northern Division first team.

As for their fielding?

"Nobody fields like Andrew (Sansaver) at first base and that's what you're going to miss," Trapasso said. "This is my 17th year of coaching and I've never seen anybody as good as him around first base. That will hurt. You'll have some instances where one of our fielders might bounce the ball or something and it might get by our first baseman or bounce out of his glove, where it might not have happened last year. But that's the way it goes."

Tomorrow: Pitchers