UH baseball downs UC Santa Barbara to advance in Big West Tournament

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Rainbow Warriors baseball team continues its season, getting an opening round win in the Big West tournament.

Going into this game, University of Hawaii baseball head coach Rich Hill described his team as battle-tested after qualifying for the playoffs in the final game of the regular season.

Wednesday’s showdown was among the biggest in recent Bows baseball history, and the local boys brought out the bats.

A bright and sunny day in Fullerton, California, for the first-ever Big West playoff tournament.

It’s win or go home for the ‘Bows. UH dropped two of three games to Santa Barbara earlier this year.

In the bottom of the fifth, the ‘Bows down 2-1 and Lahaina native Ben Zeigler Namoa hits a three-run jack over the centerfield wall.

Hawaii is back on top with a 4-2 lead.

Then in the seventh, another long ball, Matt Miura goes opposite field for a 2-run homer. No better time for the third home run of the season for the Maryknoll alum.

In the ninth, All-Big West reliever Isaiah Magdaleno put the finishing touches on the game, shutting down the Gauchos to cap off a solid three innings of work.

UH goes on to win 6-2 and moves on.

“It’s a perennial, power UC Santa Barbara with the top 10 pick and a very good, very good club to come out,” UH head coach Rich Hill said. “We really just out energy-ed our opponent, outplayed them on defense, pitching, offense I just thought it was a great performance by our young people.”

Hawaii advances to face top-seeded University of California, Irvine on Thursday and the tournament now moves to a double-elimination format.

“It’s a very disciplined program, that’s had a lot of time off really,” Coach Hill said. “I mean they’ve known they were going to be the Big West regular season champion or have a share of it, they just sprinted to that early lead.”

“We don’t know who we’re going start, I just know that our guys are going to be loose,” Coach Hill said. “We’re going to compete and we’re a very hot team right now.”

First pitch against the Anteaters is set for noon Hawaii time. The game will be streaming on ESPN+.