Hawai'i's two Division I baseball programs will be allowed to open the 2008 season a week before the rest of the country.

University of Hawai'i-Manoa and UH-Hilo will start the season a week before the new uniform starting date of Feb. 22. The teams are scheduled to play each other Feb. 15 to 17 at Les Murakami Stadium.

In past seasons, there was no uniform starting date and the two UH teams took advantage of their climate to schedule games from as early as the third week in January. Mainland teams were more than happy to travel here to get outdoors and away from the cold. The concern of the later starting date is it is difficult for both UH programs to schedule mid-week games because of geographical reasons. A Mainland team is unlikely to travel to Hawai'i to play one game, much less lose class time for mid-week series.

"It helps us to eliminate three of the mid-week games, which are tough (to schedule)," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

The Rainbows have applied for an exemption for the 2009 season to get Mainland teams here before the uniform starting date, Trapasso said.

"Now, it's just a matter of when they make a ruling on that," Trapasso said.

Meanwhile, the Rainbows upgraded their original schedule, dropping Delaware State for San Francisco for a four-game series the weekend of Feb. 22 to 24. No contract had been signed with Delaware State, so there were no problems dropping the Hornets, Trapasso said. The Hornets were 22-27 overall and 10-8 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference last season.

"I didn't like our (non-conference) schedule last year," Trapasso said. "I thought it was too soft, but that was out of necessity because of two cancellations, Miami and San Diego State. That's why we had Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Chicago State."

The Rainbows swept a four-game series from Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a five-game series from Chicago State.

The Rainbows' non-conference 2008 schedule also includes the Coca-Cola Classic in Arizona (Arizona State, Portland, Michigan), a series here against Long Beach State, and series at UC Irvine and Utah Valley State. There also are single games against San Diego (here) and at Stanford.

"Going from USF to Arizona State, then come back and play Long Beach and then go to UC Irvine, that's four weekends in a row against some quality opponents," Trapasso said. "It's going to be fun. It's going to make us better because we're going to be a young team. Playing good competition early will let some of our young guys understand what's expected of them in their careers here."

This season's Rainbows will have 11 freshmen, seven of them pitchers, joining a team that lost three-fourths of its starting infield, two starting pitchers and a closer to either graduation or completed eligibility. That means the Rainbows could use all the practice they can get. But where and when UH will workout is up in the air.

Trapasso said he can't be specific until the contract to replace the artificial turf at Murakami Stadium has been awarded later this month. The construction schedule, as well as a Toyota convention that will use the stadium, is keeping baseball in limbo. Trapasso said he already has made plans to use city parks or high school fields, if necessary. He is looking at starting around Oct. 10. Ironically, the new uniform starting date increased fall workouts from 15 days to 35.

"With a young club, the young pitchers in particular, the fall is extremely valuable to us in getting these guys ready," Trapasso said. "That's why we're not taking any of those days off. I mean, if we have to go practice at a high school or practice at Central O'ahu Regional Park or practice wherever. We'll find a parking lot at Costco, if we have to, if that's what it takes for us to get our work in this fall and get better."

Despite the inconvenience, Trapasso is having his players treat it as part of the game.

"All this adversity and not knowing where we're going to practice will just lend itself to our kids being stronger mentally and tougher because we'll be able to adjust to anything on the fly," Trapasso said.

NOTES

Hawai'i's 2009 schedule is nearly complete with UC Irvine, a tournament at Minnesota (Notre Dame, Washington, Minnesota), Mississippi State, Coastal Carolina and a tournament in Portland hosted by two-time defending national champion Oregon State.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.