Somewhere under Peccole Park's FieldTurf in Reno, Nev., the Hawai'i baseball team buried its 2007 season.

After all, it was a disappointing campaign for a veteran team with a number of returnees from a 2006 team that made it to the championship game of the NCAA Regionals. Instead of making a run at a repeat, the Rainbows' season ended rather quickly as the third team eliminated from the Western Athletic Conference tournament last Saturday. They finished 34-25 overall, 11-13 in Western Athletic Conference play, good for a tie for fourth with San Jose State. It was the fifth consecutive winning season for sixth-year coach Mike Trapasso.

The Rainbows bid farewell to eight players who completed their eligibility. Two have already extended their playing careers. First baseman Kris Sanchez and pitcher Mark Rodrigues signed with the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians, respectively, as fifth-year seniors who were available to sign before next week's Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Some of the others are hopeful of continuing their careers as well.

NEXT YEAR

The Rainbows lose three-fourths of their starting infield and two-thirds of their starting rotation. Everyone else eligible is expected to return as Trapasso said no player has yet to request a transfer. But next week's draft does leave some statuses up in the air.

"(Second baseman Jon) Hee and (center fielder Brandon) Haislet, I guess, would be the only two returning guys, and (pitcher) Craig Johnson is a possibility because he's a good-arm guy," Trapasso said of his draft-eligible juniors.

However, Hee has had a recurring subluxed left shoulder the past two seasons. His season ended with another episode in UH's 8-6, 11-inning loss to Nevada in an elimination game of the WAC tournament. Trapasso said Hee won't be playing summer ball and will have his shoulder evaluated.

Promising is the possible return of Rich Olsen, who sat out recovering from Tommy John (elbow) surgery. Hawai'i will apply for a medical hardship for a sixth season of eligibility.

The Rainbows will return a young squad, as freshmen Vinnie Catricala and Kevin Macdonald saw considerable playing time and are candidates to fill the corner infield voids left by Sanchez and third baseman Justin Frash. Sophomore Landon Hernandez did ironman work behind the plate, starting in 55 of 59 games.

Trapasso also was pleased with the progress of redshirt freshman pitcher Sam Spangler that he actually considered activating him. He had been hitting 90 to 91 mph in workouts, Trapasso said.

The Rainbows also have Matt Daly and Jayson Kramer back on the mound. Trapasso was happy with Kramer's consistency.

"He'll get a lot of innings whether it's starting or relieving," Trapasso said. "He answered the call for us."

RECRUITS

Trapasso took a different approach to recruiting, leaning more toward high school players (11 of 16). Five of the seven prep pitchers are at least 6 feet 3 and 200-plus pounds in right-handers Alex Capaul, Mike Griffin, Joshua Slaats and Sean Soto, and left-hander Timothy Moore. Trapasso said all are attractive to the pros because of their size. Slaats, a 6-5, 210-pounder from California High in San Ramon, Calif., had a Baseball America grade of three of five stars.

"Slaats is probably the highest profile guy," Trapasso said. "We feel good about him coming because he's a good student and wants to come to school. He has a price that's pretty darn high, so I think he'll probably come. But you never know."

To be safe, four of the five JC recruits also are pitchers. But with next season's anticipated four-game conference series, Trapasso sees an opportunity for the younger pitchers to develop.

"The reality is the young arms we're bringing in means we're going to use them whether they're ready or not and that's a good thing because the idea was to go more high school, go more physical to try to get more power arms and then throw them out there, feed 'em to the wolves. You hope by the end of the year, or by their sophomore year, they've caught on to the learning curve."

SCHEDULE

Hawai'i was burned this past season by cancellations of San Diego State and Miami and ended up with RPI-killers Chicago State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a total of nine games, all won by UH.

The highlight of next year's schedule is Arizona State's tournament, which also features Michigan and Portland. Other non-conference games include a series at UC Irvine and a single game at Stanford. UH also will play series with Long Beach State and a single game with San Diego. Other nonconference games are Delaware State, Alabama-Birmingham and Utah Valley State.

Of course, the WAC goes to four-game series that includes doubleheaders, increasing the schedule from 24 to 32 games. The tourney is at Louisiana Tech.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.