It's veterans weekend for the Hawai'i baseball team.

The freshmen contingent of the Rainbows' pitching staff will be relegated to the bullpen for the series against No. 10 Long Beach State.

Junior right-hander Jared Alexander (2-1, 0.43) will start tonight's series opener. Senior left-hander Nick Rhodes (0-0, 7.04) will make his first start of the season tomorrow and junior right-hander Matt Daly (2-0, 4.34) is slated for Sunday.

"It had nothing to do with who we were playing," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

Trapasso used the week for some extra tutoring for freshman Alex Capaul (0-3, 10.80), who has thrown more on the side, putting him out of sync with the rotation.

"We put in a little cut slider with him (Tuesday)," Trapasso said. "He'll still be available in relief."

Alexander has been the most consistent starter and was bumped from Saturday to Friday in place of Daly. That will allow Daly flexibility to pitch an inning tonight, such as in a closer role, and still be able to start Sunday, Trapasso said.

As for Rhodes, "Nick was the next guy in line to get a start and he deserves it," Trapasso said. "I put him in Saturday because I wanted him to throw under the lights because being a finesse lefty, he has a better opportunity for success at night."

It's not as if the freshmen are to be protected from the 49ers (6-2), better known as Dirtbags in baseball and the favorites to win the Big West. Trapasso said he will not hesitate to use the freshmen in relief.

"It will be a good experience for them to get in against a team like Long Beach," Trapasso said.

It will be a good experience for all the Rainbows (5-6), who have dropped five of their past six. The Dirtbags, who have been to the regionals six of the past seven seasons, come in having taken 2 of 3 from No. 13 Rice (then No. 6) and 3 of 3 from No. 25 Wichita State (then No. 7).

Long Beach returns just about every player from last year, including four players in Baseball America's top 100 college prospects. Back are first baseman Shane Peterson (.393, 10 RBIs), shortstop Danny Espinosa (.469), and pitchers Bryan Shaw (7 strikeouts, 2 walks in 5 1/3 innings) and Vance Worley (1-0, 4.05).

On top of that, the Dirtbags have a team earned run average of 1.89.

"We were expecting good pitching," LBSU coach Mike Weathers said before last night's workout. "We had both Andrew Liebel (tonight's starter) and Vance Worley (tomorrow's starter). They're both returning starters. That, plus our bullpen's pretty experienced with Bryan Shaw, our closer, Dave Roberts and Dustin Rasco, our setup guy. We've added some other good arms. Our Sunday starter, Jake Thompson, has really been beyond what I'd thought he'd be."

Weathers said the offense has been a little behind, but attributed that to the pitching his team has faced (nationally ranked Rice and Wichita State). Still, most of his position players are returnees and expectations for postseason are high.

"Last year, we had 21 underclassmen," Weathers said. "Many of those guys are back this year. Last year, we had no expectations. We had guys who hadn't been tested. But (this year's players) all have had a year experience, so we expect good things from them."

Meanwhile, Trapasso said JC transfer first baseman Alex Myers has been cleared to play, but that doesn't mean he'll see action in this series. Trapasso said Myers would be "a four-hole hitter" in the lineup.

If there is a stretch this season the Rainbows could use as many bodies possible, it's coming up. Starting tonight, they will play 13 games over 16 days. They play Alabama-Birmingham Tuesday and Wednesday, travel to UC Irvine for a three-game series next weekend, have a day off before playing San Diego here March 18, and get another day off before starting Western Athletic Conference by hosting a four-game series against Fresno State.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.