Imagine what Kolten Wong, Kevin Macdonald and some of the other University of Hawai'i baseball team's sluggers might be capable of in the thin air of Las Cruces, N.M., altitude 4,000 feet, this week.

Of course, for Saturday's doubleheader showdown, unless things change, you will pretty much be left to your imagination anyway.

For one of the few times in a remarkable run of 33 years and 2,000 games, the radio voice of the 'Bows, Don Robbs, will be silent. Well, he might be speaking, but it will be from Honolulu because budget cutbacks have forced the station, ESPN 1420, to keep him home.

For want of the estimated $5,000 or so to send Robbs on the road, ESPN 1420 will, it said, air today's non-conference game from Arizona State using Sun Devil announcers. Friday's and Sunday's Western Athletic Conference games from New Mexico State will be carried using the Aggies' crew. But since even the Aggies aren't doing Saturday's games, the doubleheader will go un-aired.

It is an irony that would be amusing if it weren't so sad. I mean, we've waited how many years now for the 'Bows to be atop the WAC, much less in the thick of a WAC pennant race? And now that they are with a No. 20 national ranking to boot, there will be silence in the midst of the biggest weekend so far this season.

The 24-13 (7-4 WAC) 'Bows, who share the top of the conference with Nevada entering the week, have a half-game lead on the Aggies (32-8, 7-5) so, yes, this four-game series has the potential to have quite an impact.

But such are the realities of the current financial climate and depressed ad market that none of the media that cover the 'Bows at home will be on the road.

This almost sounds like a job for the late Les Keiter, whose talents included the niche ability to "re-create" baseball games in the days when costs or logistics did not permit live broadcasts. Keiter would take the barest of facts, relayed by phone or telegraph, and by dint of imagination and experience spin believable yarns about games taking place thousands of miles away.

But even Robbs, who learned some of the craft from Keiter, likely wouldn't be able to do it Saturday since UH, as part of its own cutbacks, no longer sends a sports information representative or equipment manager on the road in several sports, including baseball.

Which makes you wonder if coach Mike Trapasso, a former pitcher, can jump in and provide relief in this situation. Perhaps, when he isn't flashing signs or arguing calls, Trapasso can find time to tweet play-by-play.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.