Hawai'i is hoping a little R & R will carry it a long way.

After taking Monday and yesterday off, the Rainbows will return to work today for a final tuneup for the NAPA Auto Parts Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament.

The six-team, double-elimination tournament begins tomorrow at Les Murakami Stadium. The fifth-seeded Rainbows (31-24) open against second-seeded Louisiana Tech (28-20) at 7 p.m. tomorrow.

After splitting a nonconference weekend series with Utah Valley, dropping the last two games of the series in rather ugly fashion, UH coach Mike Trapasso said he felt the players needed time away from the field.

"It's a way of saying you guys looked fatigued and spent last weekend, so you need some time away," Trapasso said of his players, who endured a conference schedule that had them traveling to the Mainland every other week. "Clear your heads and recharge your batteries."

The days off are a luxury of hosting the tournament. Otherwise, the players likely would've been on a plane Monday or yesterday, as it had the previous three WAC tournaments played in Fresno, Calif., Reno, Nev., and Ruston, La.

As it turns out, the Rainbows open with the only WAC opponent they failed to beat. The Bulldogs swept a four-game series here April 30 to May 3. That series started UH's sluggish finish in which it lost 9 of its last 14.

"It doesn't matter who you play at this point, especially with this league," Trapasso said. "From one week to the next, we've seen teams go from sixth to second or second to sixth. It's just been a crazy year."

Hawai'i will send senior right-hander Jayson Kramer (5-4, 3.62) against the Bulldogs. Despite pitching a complete game in his last start against the Bulldogs, he was on the short end of a 5-1 loss. Three of the five runs he allowed were unearned. Tech's Jeb Stefan shutout UH for seven innings before allowing a home run to Ryan Morford to start the eighth inning. Stefan went 7 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and a walk with 12 strikeouts. When Kramer is on his game, the infielders are busy. He had 19 grounders resulting in 20 outs in his outing against Tech on April 30.

The Rainbows are still pondering the availability of catcher Landon Hernandez, who hasn't played since May 7 at Fresno State because of a wrist injury.

"He came in (yesterday) and tried to swing and couldn't," Trapasso said. "They said the cortisone shot is still trying to take effect, but obviously if we started today, he wouldn't be able to play."

With the tournament roster size reduced to 25 from 26 that was used during the regular season, Trapasso hasn't decided on Hernandez's situation. If Hernandez can't play, freshman first baseman Easton Torigoe will fill the spot.

If Hernandez is down, Kevin Fujii remains the starting catcher. Freshman center fielder Kolten Wong, who was an all-state catcher at Kamehameha-Hawai'i, is the backup. The emergency catcher becomes first baseman Kevin Macdonald, who was recruited as a catcher/third baseman, Trapasso said.

Being crunch time, expect the pitchers to be pushed to the limit. Relief pitchers who normally get a day's rest from an appearance will have to be ready to return the next day. It is why Trapasso carefully monitors usage all season, so the pitchers are not fatigued by postseason.

"We'll give it our best shot," Trapasso said. "I think our kids are going to play well."

NOTES

A total of 1,124 ticket packages for the tournament were sold as of about 3 p.m. yesterday.

UH pitcher Harrison Kuroda graduated with a degree in sociology on Saturday. He said he will take unclassified graduate courses the next school year, as UH files for a sixth season of eligibility, declaring an injury hardship. He missed a season early in his career because of a shoulder injury.

Fresno State junior first baseman Alan Ahmady has been suspended from the team for breaking athletic department policy, the Fresno Bee reported on its Web site. Ahmady was hitting .326 with eight home runs and 53 RBI. His RBI total was second highest on the team. The Bee also noted that was Ahmady's second suspension of the season. He sat out five games earlier also for violating athletic department policy.

Tickets for the tournament: Lower/mid levels, $10, upper level $7 for daily sessions; Lower/middle levels $35, upper level $25 for all sessions. Parking is $3.