Unlike last year, the University of Hawai'i baseball team opened spring workouts yesterday with cautious optimism.

The Rainbows open the 2006 season Feb. 1 with a four-game series with former Western Athletic Conference rival San Diego State, which is coached by former Padres and Aztecs star Tony Gwynn. The Aztecs play in the Mountain West Conference.

At the start of last year's spring practice, the Rainbows were tabbed as a regional team in Baseball America's college preview. They were ranked 42nd in the publication's preseason top 50. Hawai'i coach Mike Trapasso did not play down the assessment of his team and posed it as a challenge. The Rainbows finished 28-27 overall and 15-14 in the WAC. Postseason would have to wait once again.

"I look back on it now and it was probably too much, too soon from my end," said Trapasso, who enters his fifth season. "I put too much pressure on our kids and I put too much pressure on myself.

"This year, I'm just going to be more myself and we're just going to approach the old cliche of 'one-day-at-a-time.' My best advice for our guys is just to be the best you can be every day, but then maintain an even keel. That, at least early, is how we're going to approach it."

The message has reached the players.

"I'm not going to say this is the year, but we have a much more fundamental team than the three years before," said senior catcher/outfielder Matt Inouye, an all-WAC selection last season. "We're going to play small ball; we're going to score a lot of runs. I'm not saying this is the year, but we got a real solid team."

FEWER PLAYERS

Trapasso has trimmed the roster to 35 compared with 42 last year. The Rainbows lost six seniors, including pitcher Stephen Bryant, who was drafted and signed by the Oakland Athletics. They lost second baseman Isaac Omura, who would have been a senior, to the draft (Oakland). Both were all-WAC selections.

Also, 12 players with eligibility remaining transferred or left the program. Among the transfers are outfielder/catcher Erik Ammon to Oregon State; right-handed pitcher Larry Ellenbrook to Southern Utah; shortstop Troy Hanzawa to Yavapai JC (Ariz.); relief pitcher Guy McDowell to NAIA Azusa Pacific; and redshirt right-handed pitcher Ronnie Loeffler to Palomar JC. While playing time might have been an issue for some who left, it wasn't for Ammon, who started 32 games, mostly in left field, and batted .255.

"I just wanted to get back home," said Ammon by phonefrom Salem, Ore., his hometown. "It was hard being away from family."

The Rainbows added 16 new players. Also back are three pitchers who were out with injuries: left-handers Mark Rodrigues and Myles Ioane and right-hander Keahi Rawlins.

FILLING HOLES

But Hawai'i has to replace Bryant and Omura.

Junior right-hander Steven Wright, used last season primarily in relief (he led team with four saves), will get a shot in the starting rotation, Trapasso said. Wright won the Russ Ford Relief Pitcher Award at the Cape Cod League last summer. He had a league-leading 12 saves for the Orleans Cardinals.

"He's maturing and developing to someone who could hopefully be that Friday (opening game) guy," Trapasso said.

Right-hander Justin Costi is the sole returning starting pitcher. Trapasso is hopeful of the return of Rodrigues and Ioane, as well as newcomers Ian Harrington, a left-handed JC transfer, and freshman right-hander Matt Daly. A healthy Rich Olsen also could be a front-line starter, Trapasso said.

Darrell Fisherbaugh is pegged as the closer for now.

Trapasso said there is enough versatility and depth in looking to fill second base and third base, which was vacated with Schafer Magana finishing his eligibility. Jon Hee can play second and third base; JC transfer Justin Frash is a left-handed hitting third baseman; JC transfer Elijah Christensen can play third, short and second; and shortstop Joe Spiers (all-WAC second team and freshman all-American) also might see time at second base.

Inouye, who played primarily center field last season, might see more action at catcher. Inouye said he played about 40 games at catcher during the summer in Alaska and Kansas.

"This fall, we saw a leadership role evolve in Matt," Trapasso said. "How he dealt with pitchers, how he dealt with our staff. It was a maturity that he showed this fall, which was good to see. It's something I'm pretty pleased with. I'm proud of him."

Still, all spots are pretty much open. Whatever success a player had in the fall must continue in the spring and translate to execution by game time. Things could change with a little more than three weeks before the season opener.

"We liked what we saw in the fall," Trapasso said of fall workouts. "We feel that we're better because of those things. But I'm going to make sure we understand that there are always surprises that come your way during the spring. We'll try to understand that the fall is the fall and the spring is a different animal."

LATER START

The NCAA yesterday passed legislation that will not allow teams to start practice until Feb. 1, starting next season, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The rationale is to give cold-weather schools less of a disadvantage than schools in warm areas, the Times story said.

Trapasso declined comment until he sees details of the change. He said he believed the legislation was not supposed to go into effect until 2008.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.