Back in the friendly confines of Les Murakami Stadium, Hawai'i resumes Western Athletic Conference action in a four-game series against Louisiana Tech.

Unlike their previous four conference series, this one has no doubleheader and will be over four days starting tonight.

The extra day suits UH coach Mike Trapasso just fine. There's too much risk in a doubleheader.

"You have an extra day's rest," he said of having four games over four days. "Some guys may be different, but when I pitch a guy in the first game of a doubleheader, even if he comes in for one inning, I'm leery about bringing him back in the second game, not after sitting for three or four hours. That's how guys get injured. That might happen before it's all said and done. We have one more doubleheader at Fresno."

Trapasso tried to schedule previous WAC series without the doubleheaders, but was denied by the conference. He was told the only time a team could play sans the doubleheader was if a team was traveling on the road in successive series. Louisiana Tech played four games over four days at Sacramento State in a series that ended Monday before arriving here.

But scheduling is not created equal. All of Hawai'i's road trips have been on alternating weekends. Even though all of its conference road trips begin with a non-conference mid-week game, the WAC still denied UH from playing a four-game series over four days.

The league said "it would cost extra money for the umpires, the extra day, so we're not going to do it," Trapasso said.

At least the Rainbows (26-16 overall, 9-6 WAC) can enjoy the four-day format at least once, thanks to the Bulldogs (22-18, 7-9), winners of nine of their last 11. They're coming off splitting a series at Sacramento State and they swept defending College World Series champion Fresno State several weeks ago.

"We have to pitch better," Trapasso said. "We haven't pitched well in two out of (the last) three weeks. Before that, we were outstanding all year. Our ERA went up an entire run (on the past road trip). That's amazing this late in the season. We just have to get back to work. We're walking people out of the bullpen."

Hawai'i's pitching depth was still in question as of yesterday. Trapasso has not decided the fate of Lenny Linsky (1-1, 6.94, one save in 11 2/3 innings) and Alex Myers (0-0, 18.90 in 3 1/3 innings). He has until the exchange of lineup cards tonight to declare his 26-player roster for the conference series. The two pitchers were sent home after the Arizona State game last week and obviously not available for the New Mexico State series last weekend for violating team rules, Trapasso said. He cannot disclose the rules broken. Trapasso had returned from a recruiting trip on the Mainland yesterday and had not met with the two pitchers before yesterday's picture-taking session.

Hawai'i will stay with the same rotation it planned to use last weekend at NMSU. Jayson Kramer starts tonight, Matt Sisto tomorrow, Nate Klein Saturday and Jared Alexander Sunday. Alexander was scheduled to start the Sunday game at NMSU, but he was pressed into relief duty in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader that UH won, 8-7, in 10 innings.

NOTES

The team's 45 home runs is second all-time. The school record is 58 set in 1983. Kevin Macdonald's 11 home runs ties him for fourth all-time for single-season homers. He shares the spot with Gregg Omori (2001) and Glenn Braggs (1983), who went on to play for the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.

Fewer than 700 tickets are available for Saturday's game against LaTech, the school announced last night. The athletic department is recommending fans purchase their tickets for the series ahead of time.