Rainbows' final game of season canceled
| • | Final statistics |
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Like expectations for the season, Hawai'i's season came up short.
Yesterday's Western Athletic Conference season finale at Louisiana Tech was canceled because of rain. It is the second consecutive season UH has lost a game because of rain. Last year's home season finale was canceled by rain.
The Rainbows finished the season 28-27 overall, the third consecutive winning season for fourth-year coach Mike Trapasso. They ended with a 15-14 WAC record, a half-game behind second-place Fresno State (16-14). The wins and third-place finish are the best in Trapasso's tenure. But the cancelation denied UH a chance at tying the Bulldogs for second. Rice won its ninth consecutive league championship (41-17 overall, 21-9 WAC), a strong five games ahead of Fresno State.
"It's disappointing because you want to finish by playing, especially when you see that Fresno lost again and we could've had a chance to finish in second had we won," Trapasso said. "But there's nothing you can do about it because the conditions were unplayable."
Inconsistency
Hawai'i had a strong finishing kick, winning 10 of its last 14 games, sweeping series at San Jose State, Nevada at home and the abbreviated one with Louisiana Tech.
"I'm proud of our guys for how we finished," Trapasso said. "I'm real proud of the way we played on this road trip (at Rice and at LaTech)."
But it might have been more meaningful if the team wasn't 18-23 following an 11-0 shellacking at California on April 20.
"I look at the team, I look at the season, and we're a better club than we were last year (31-24 overall, 13-16 WAC) in a league that was stronger than it was a year ago," Trapasso said. "We did better, finished higher. We made some strides there, but it was a disappointing year in that we gave so many games away and struggled in some games we could've won throughout the year."
The Rainbows were picked to finish second in the WAC in Baseball America's preview. In fact, the publication projected UH to get an NCAA Tournament berth. But only Rice, ranked 15th by Baseball America, had a record worthy of a berth even if it did not win the conference crown.
"The inconsistencies that we had made it a strange year," Trapasso said. "I still feel we're like one of the top 64 teams in the country, but we're not going to be able to play in the tournament because of some of the games we blew throughout the course of the year."
The Rainbows appeared to make a turn for the better about one-third into the season. After blasting nationally ranked Louisiana-Lafayette, 12-1, in the Rainbow Tournament, UH followed with a sweep of Florida State, also nationally ranked.
But UH hit a 6-17 slump that wasn't cured until after the 11-0 loss at California.
Numbers game
A problem UH faced was depth. The season began with 42 players, five of them redshirts. It turns out UH was six over the school's limit of 36, the preferred number for gender equity issues.
Even with the six departing seniors and the dismissal of Jose Castaneda in midseason, plus the addition of 13 signed recruits, UH will still exceed the 36 limit. (Some of the recruits are expected to get drafted and sign.)
"We'll have to address that, but it doesn't have to happen until spring (2006)," Trapasso said. "So we may be in a situation where we go into the fall and having to make some cuts."
Trapasso said he would like to be at around 35 next year, but closer to 30 in a couple of years.
"From a positional stand point, I don't want to recruit a JC player unless we feel he can come in and be a starter," Trapasso said. "I'd prefer to go with high school guys, if we can, in any and all instances because that's one thing that you struggle with. If you go too heavy JC, you get what you got this year. You struggle with continuity of your club. You struggle with internal leadership, you struggle with loyalty."
Next year
With Rice departing for Conference USA, the WAC added New Mexico State and affiliate member Sacramento State to form a seven-team conference with a postseason tournament for the first time since 1999.
Instead of 30 games, there will be 24. Home-and-home series will happen with just two opponents (Louisiana Tech and San Jose State). Home-only series will be against Sacramento State and New Mexico State, while road-only series will be at Nevada and Fresno State.
Nonconference series are scheduled against USC, Arizona, UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount. The Rainbow Tournament is slated to have Arkansas, Washington and Texas-Arlington.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
