One thing for certain is Hawai'i senior relief pitcher Cory Kahn's season is already nine times better than last year.

When he made his first appearance of the season with a two-inning stint in mopping up the Rainbows' 15-8 loss to Portland in Surprise, Ariz., Kahn had already matched his first season's total. He has since had eight more appearances, playing an integral role as long man out of the busy UH bullpen.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-hander from Moraga, Calif., was pretty much nowhere to be found last season. You could count his appearances on one hand and still have four fingers to grip a two-seamer.

"I'm not going to lie, but the thought crossed my mind," said Kahn, when asked if he had regrets about transferring from Sierra JC in California because of his limited playing time. "At the same time, I knew I had to work that much harder to get out and earn my spot on the team."

His lone appearance last year was in UH's 20-1 romp of Chicago State. He allowed a hit and a walk with two strikeouts in the final two innings of a game Ian Harrington started. Kahn was not heard from again until the March 1 game in Arizona. But last season, the Rainbows had an experienced starting rotation that was pretty dependable in lasting more than five innings. Opportunities were few.

"The fact that some of our young guys were struggling with command issues early (this season) helped Cory," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "The one thing we knew about Cory was that he was a strike thrower and he has no fear. He really got his opportunity and made the most of it. That's a great lesson for our young guys."

Last year, Tyler Davis was the closer and an effective one at that. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 21st round and is assigned at Low-A Fort Wayne of the Midwest League.

This year, the finishing touches belong to Jayson Kramer and Matt Daly. So Kahn has been relegated to long relief.

"Basically this year, I was ready to take on whatever coach wanted my role to be," Kahn said.

Kahn, who is 2-0 with a 2.45 earned run average in 22 innings, picked up victories in Western Athletic Conference series two weeks ago at San Jose State and last weekend here against New Mexico State.

In the 12-5 win against the Spartans, Kahn entered with one out in the fourth with UH ahead, 7-4, and SJSU threatening against starter Josh Slaats. It was just the first game of a doubleheader, but Kahn ate up 4 1/3 innings, allowing a run. Cameron Wheeler wrapped it up with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

In Sunday's series finale against NMSU, UH staffed the game with five pitchers. But it was Kahn who had the longest stint at 3 1/3 scoreless innings to get credit for the win.

Ironically, this is the most work Kahn has seen since high school. After red-shirting at Southern Nevada JC his freshman year, he transferred to Sierra, where he spent his two seasons there as a closer. That meant most of his appearances were one or two innings. He relishes his new role.

"The way coach has me this year, I really like it," Kahn said. "It gives me a chance to get two, maybe three innings at a time. It's all good by me."