National rankings are much like preseason prognostications: they look good on paper.

But as the University of Hawai'i baseball team knows, the game isn't just played on the field. The other game — the regional at-large selections — is played in a meeting room and out of the players' hands.

The Rainbows returned to the national rankings yesterday, landing at No. 25 in top 25 polls by USA Today and the Rosenblatt Report and No. 29 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's top 30. This comes after winning eight in a row and 12 of their past 13, including a four-game Western Athletic Conference series sweep at Louisiana Tech.

Just don't look for any high-fives, forearm bashes or, as Luis Avila does after hitting a home run, helmet tappings, in Manoa. The rankings don't bring the 'Bows any closer to a WAC title or a regional berth. If anything, they should bring recognition to the WAC, which is likely to have three teams — UH (37-12), Fresno State (33-16) and San Jose State (33-18) — with 35-plus wins when the regular season ends.

Periodically this season, Baseball America Online has predicted the 16 four-team regional fields. Last week's report showed only the predicted WAC champion (Fresno State) getting a berth despite being in second place at the time.

"Honestly, I don't think the rankings come into play," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "But there's no doubt people read the newspapers, they read the rankings, so it can't hurt. I don't know if it helps, but I know it can't hurt."

UH still wants to finish first in the regular season with the hope it might help their cause in an at-large situation.

Still, there is only one guarantee of a regional berth and that is to win the WAC tournament, which pits the top six teams in the conference in a double-elimination format.

"You just have to keep winning," Trapasso said.

Since two weeks ago, when only 4 1/2 games separated first from seventh in the WAC, the top three teams have separated from the pack. Fresno State and San Jose State trail first-place UH (14-6) by one game. The Bulldogs and Spartans, both 12-6, play this weekend. Trapasso is indifferent to that series.

"We're just worried about ourselves," he said. "If we take care of business, we don't have to worry about other people."

Ideally, it would help UH if neither team swept the series because a sweep would pull that team a half-game in front of the idle Rainbows, who take final exams this week. The next-best scenario is if San Jose State takes 2 of 3. The Rainbows play at SJSU May 19 to 21, giving them a chance to make up the difference on the field, instead of scoreboard-watching the Fresno State-Sacramento State series that weekend.

Hawai'i has shown resilience this season. It has played successfully through inclement weather, injuries and illnesses.

Since opening day, the Rainbows haven't wavered. Their longest losing streak is two, so they don't get too low after losing or too high after winning, such as going 5-0 on the recent trip to Louisiana to improve to 13-2 overall away from Les Murakami Stadium.

"I think we've got a group of kids who have the mindset to stay on task and look out for each other," Trapasso said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.