It's never a dull moment when Hawai'i is holding on to a small lead and closer Darrell Fisherbaugh is summoned from the bullpen.

The junior right-hander will mow 'em down in order in one inning and, hit a batter, walk another and give up a hit in the next, leaving the Rainbow faithful squirming. Where are the defibrillators?

With the Rainbows leading 11-8 in the eighth inning of last Thursday's win against San Diego State, Fisherbaugh inherited a runner at first with no outs. It was the 26th consecutive appearance of his career dating to his freshman season that he has been brought in a game in the middle of an inning. He struck out the first two batters he faced. There seemed to be some confidence in the air; after all, he retired all four batters he faced the night before.

Instead, he threw a wild pitch, gave up an RBI double, hit the next batter and walked the next one before drawing a visit from coach Mike Trapasso. He struck out the next batter on three pitches, and then struck out the side in the ninth for his second save in as many games.

Go figure.

But the fact is, Fisherbaugh gets the job done more often than not. More often than it seems anyway. The Rainbows had two blown saves last year, Trapasso said. Trouble is, they were really ugly blown saves that left a lasting impression.

"When people talk about Fish, that's all they talk about," Trapasso said. "They fail to talk about that he converted on most of his saves. People want to say our bullpen struggled. No, we had a couple of games where we really looked bad and blew a big lead, making it a lot worse than it seemed."

Truth is, of Fisherbaugh's 15 appearances last season, he allowed runs on only four occasions. He ended up 4-1 with a 1.45 earned run average and two saves, sharing closing duties with Steven Wright, who had four saves. In his 15 appearances, the first batter Fisherbaugh faced reached five times, but only once by a hit (a triple). Of the 23 base runners he inherited, only eight scored (35 percent), compared to 13 of 28 (46 percent) his freshman year.

"It's kind of nerve-wracking, but you get used to it," Fisherbaugh said. "I like the tense situations. It really doesn't get to me as much as other people."

Trapasso said Fisherbaugh has the right demeanor for a closer. A subpar performance doesn't faze him.

"He's able to forget when he has a bad outing," Trapasso said.

Twice in his freshman year, Fisherbaugh took a loss in relief, only to come back the next day to get a save.

Fisherbaugh gets into jams because of his propensity to fall behind in the count, netting high pitch counts.

"His key is getting strike one," Trapasso said. "If he's able to get ahead of a hitter, it really puts the hitter on the defensive. When he doesn't get ahead, sometimes he has to come in with his fastball, which frankly, is his third pitch."

Trapasso said Fisherbaugh's best pitches are his changeup and slider.

Fisherbaugh admits he could step up his conditioning a little more.

"It didn't affect me as much as I thought at the beginning until my arm started getting sore my freshman year," Fisherbaugh said.

He has changed his diet, eating more chicken and salads, he said.

"This year's the healthiest I've been," Fisherbaugh said. "I'm on a diet and I'm running a lot more than I have."

That's what UH needs to stay competitive consistently.

"Fish has to stay sound, he has to stay healthy for us to be successful, although we have guys to pick him up if he doesn't," Trapasso said. "Last year, he broke down a couple times. We need him to stay healthy."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.