On paper, San Jose State's earned run average has been right at league average. But not to Spartans' coach Sam Piraro.

"In my opinion, it's been a below-average staff in terms of effectiveness," Piraro said. "We've been very inconsistent. Our starting pitching has not done the things we hoped it would do."

The Spartans, here for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series against Hawai'i at Les Murakami Stadium starting tonight, are still looking for answers in their starting rotation.

"We've had to do a lot of juggling and we'll continue to juggle until we get it right," Piraro said. "So that part of our game needs to improve."

The Spartans (16-11 overall, 1-2 WAC) have a team ERA of 5.02, which is exactly the league's average. The Rainbows (21-9, 2-1) lead the conference at 2.72.

Sophomore Scott Sobczak (2-1, 4.26) will make his first start of the season for the Spartans tonight against UH's Ian Harrington (4-4, 3.40). He takes over for Loren Moneypenny (2-3, 4.63), who has struggled this season. Moneypenny was hit for six runs in four innings in a 14-8 loss to New Mexico State last Friday. Sobczak is the grandson of Ed Sobczak, who coached SJSU baseball from 1957 to 1969. Sobczak had been the Spartans' closer with a team-leading five saves.

Freshman Spencer Snodgrass (2-2, 3.31) pitches tomorrow against Mark Rodrigues (6-1, 2.63). Snodgrass won the Spartans' only game in the NMSU series, allowing a run in five innings.

Senior Steven Vidal (1-1, 4.64) has won his way back into the rotation, Piraro said. He will start Sunday against Joshua Schneider (2-1, 2.27). Vidal had a no-decision in Sunday's 6-5 loss to the Aggies in which he allowed two runs in seven innings.

All of the Spartans' starter are right-handed.

"We have to stabilize our pitching staff," Piraro said. "That's our major concern right now. If we can do that, we have a greater chance of success in the league."

Hawai'i, meanwhile, is looking for better base running. It has had runners picked off or thrown out trying to advance on pitches in the dirt, but still in front of the catcher. But there's a fine line the runners need to distinguish.

"We still want to be aggressive, but we don't want to be running ourselves into outs," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

The Spartans are the kind of team that will make teams pay for poor base running. As usual, they lead the conference in fielding at .976; UH is third at .967.

Offensively, the Spartans average six runs per game and are fifth in the league in batting at .296. Right fielder Donato Giovanatto is second in the league with a .386 batting average. Center fielder Chris Balatico (Mililani '03) is batting .329.

Hawai'i averages 6.7 runs per game. Kris Sanchez is second in the league with 36 RBIs.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.