The timing might be right for the Hawai'i baseball team to take its show on the road.

The Rainbows leave today for a seven-game, 12-day road trip, their longest period away from Les Murakami Stadium this season.

They open a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at Sacramento State that runs tomorrow through Saturday.

The trip continues with a non-conference game at Pacific Tuesday and a three-game WAC series at Fresno State April 13 to 15.

"I think a change of scenery will help everybody," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "Sometimes you fall into a routine when you have such a long homestand like we did. I don't like us playing so many games in a row at home.

"Getting on the road is something I've always liked. Our guys like it. It gets us out of our comfort zone and sometimes you go into a situation where you'll eliminate some distractions and you just focus on baseball."

The Rainbows (22-11 overall, 3-3 WAC) have not been consistent with the bat in recent weeks. Against San Jose State, which won 2 of 3, the Rainbows scored three runs in the first 23 innings of the series before putting up a crooked number in the sixth inning of the third game, winning, 6-0.

"We just need to swing better," Trapasso said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to do that this weekend."

The Rainbows are hitting the league average .298 and are scoring 6.3 runs per game, which is just under the WAC average of 6.5.

The Hornets (9-20, 4-5) are on a five-game losing streak. They were swept over the weekend at Fresno State. They started the WAC season so promisingly, taking 2 of 3 at Louisiana Tech and at New Mexico State.

Sacramento State is averaging 4.9 runs per game with a .270 batting average, the lowest in the WAC. Its team earned run average is 6.95, which is sixth out of the seven-team conference.

Trapasso is pondering switching usual second-game starter Mark Rodrigues with third-game starter Joshua Schneider. Trapasso said Rodrigues had experienced some tightness after his start last weekend. He will throw a bullpen session this morning before they leave for the Mainland. The series is a day earlier than usual because of Easter Sunday.

"If he feels fine, we may just leave it as is or we might just flip flop just to keep (Rodrigues) on Saturday to give him one more day's rest," Trapasso said.

Schneider (3-1) is coming off his best start of the season, a 6-0 five-hitter against San Jose State Sunday.

All three games will be broadcast live on 1420 AM.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.