Hawai'i begins the fight for its postseason life today when it opens a four-game, Western Athletic Conference regular season series finale against Fresno State at Pete Beiden Field in Fresno, Calif.

First pitch is 3 p.m., Hawai'i time. The game will be aired on ESPN 1420 AM.

The Rainbows (27-20 overall, 9-10 WAC) will have to win as many games possible in a place where they haven't had much success. Hawai'i is 6-19 at Beiden since 2000. The last time UH won a series at FSU was in 2000.

It's too early to determine how many more games UH needs to win to clinch one of six berths for the WAC tournament that will be played at Les Murakami Stadium, May 21 to 24. Hawai'i and Louisiana Tech each has four WAC games left; the other five teams each has eight to play. Only 3 1/2 games separate first-place Nevada (24-22, 9-6) from last-place Fresno State (22-25, 6-10) and Sacramento State (24-21, 5-9).

Hawai'i knows what it has to do. It just snapped a five-game losing streak — its longest of the season — with a non-conference win Tuesday at St. Mary's. It's just a matter of playing like the team that has won 27 games, than the one that has lost 20.

"Everybody wants to panic, except for our kids," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "They're fine. There's no panic coming out of our program because we know we're a good club that hasn't played good in the last two weeks. We know exactly what we have to do to play well. We know what we haven't been doing the last couple of weeks. It doesn't make it easy, but we know we're a good club and just gotta play well."

Trapasso has said success begins on the mound. The Rainbows will use their same rotation with Jayson Kramer going tonight, Matt Sisto tomorrow, and Nate Klein and Jared Alexander in Saturday's doubleheader.

Kramer (4-4) is coming off one of his better outings, throwing a complete game in a loss to Louisiana Tech. In his first season as a starter, the senior has been the most consistent. He induces by far the most groundouts of any pitcher on the staff, a helpful skill to have on the road.

Sisto (4-4) has two complete games, but the freshman lost both, mostly due to a lack of run support. He has labored his last two starts at New Mexico State (seven runs in five innings) and Louisiana Tech (five runs in 5 1/3 innings).

Klein (1-3) had put together two consecutive strong starts before giving up eight runs in 4 1/3 innings against Louisiana Tech. He threw six shutout innings at New Mexico State, so the ability to take over a game is there.

Alexander (2-1) also is coming off an uncharacteristic poor start against Louisiana Tech. He is capable of being a ground-ball dominant pitcher when he is on his game (45 groundouts to 29 air outs this season).

Meanwhile, Fresno State has its own issues coming off its College World Series title. This series is just as crucial for the Bulldogs, who share last place with Sacramento State.

Fresno State third baseman Tom Mendonca is tied for fifth in the nation with 21 home runs.