HONOLULU — First-year Hawaii coach Rich Hill surmised that over the course of his team’s nonconference season, the Rainbow Warriors had their best success when they took advantage of opponents’ mistakes.

At the outset of Big West Conference play, that could be troublesome for UH.

What You Need To Know

  • The Hawaii baseball team looks to pick up its play for its Big West Conference opening series at Long Beach State this weekend, starting with Friday's 3 p.m (Hawaii time) matchup at Blair Field

  • LBSU, coached by former Rich Hill understudy Eric Valenzuela, was picked to finish first in the league while UH was picked sixth

  • Andy Archer gets the Friday start this week while it is to be determined how Hill will use former Friday man Cade Halemanu

  • UH ranks ninth in the conference in both batting and pitching through a challenging nonconference schedule

“This is Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, where these guys are extremely well coached,” Hill said this week. “They all play West Coast baseball. The first basemen, third basemen are going to be in the hitters’ grills. They’re going to pitch out. They’re going to be quick to the plate. They’re not going to walk you, they’re not going to make mistakes.”

UH opens Big West play Friday at 3 p.m. (Hawaii time) at Blair Field of Long Beach, the preseason favorite as picked by the league’s coaches. The Rainbows were picked to finish sixth of 11.

From here on, the team with the best record after 10 three-game series earns the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth; there remains no conference tournament in the Big West.

UCSB (10-4), Cal State Northridge (10-6) and UCI (10-6) posted the best nonconference records, while LBSU (8-7) played an elite schedule and fared well. 

Hill said for UH (6-10 overall) to contend in the conference for the first time – it has never finished with a league record of better than .500 since joining the BWC in 2013 – it will have to raise its game in all facets.

UH held a team meeting at Ala Moana Beach Park this week. Everybody went in the water and talked about what lies ahead, Hill said.

After three home series against Power Five teams plus a multi-team event on the road, UH ranks ninth among 11 Big West teams in batting (.219) and pitching (5.94 earned-run average).

The main thing the Rainbows have done well is field; they are second in that respect with a .976 fielding percentage, behind only Long Beach.

The Dirtbags will provide a stiff litmus test. LBSU, coached by Hill’s former assistant Eric Valenzuela, has a league-best 2.96 staff ERA and is third in batting average.

“That’s what an Omaha team looks like,” Hill said. “We’re still trying to find our Omaha type of pitching staff roles. I wish we had a clear 1-2-3, setup, lefty-righty matchup guys, and different closers. But those roles really haven’t been defined.”

LBSU took two of three games at then-No. 3 Mississippi State to open the season and in its most recent series did the same thing to No. 15 Gonzaga.

The Rainbows, meanwhile, are coming off a home series against Rutgers in which the teams split 2-2.

Georgia Tech graduate transfer Andy Archer (0-2) got the Friday start, supplanting Cade Halemanu in that role. The previous weekend against powerhouse Vanderbilt, Halemanu had a finger blister that precluded him from throwing Friday.

“My plan personally is not to lose that spot,” Archer said this week. He carries a 6.75 ERA but has one of the better opponent batting averages on the team at .288.

“I want to take the ball every Friday night and empty the tank,” the right-hander said. “The worst thing is to come back in the dugout and be done and still have gas left in the tank.”

He has yet to go further than 4 2/3 innings in a start for UH.

Hill said he is not yet sure how to best use Halemanu (8.64 ERA), who entered the season as the ace. He said bullpen appearances, possibly including the closer role, are a possibility in conjunction with a Sunday start.

“There’s a lot of options that we have with him,” Hill said.