UH baseball team powers past UCSB to advance in the Big West Tournament

FULLERTON, CALIF. >> In acts of defiance, the Hawaii baseball team was not ready to call it a season.

Against an opponent that once was ranked 15th nationally and a pitcher who was throwing 97-mph heat in the game’s second half, the Rainbow Warriors gritted their way to a 6-2 victory over UC Santa Barbara to advance to today’s double-elimination round of the Big West Championship tournament. UH will play regular-season champion UC Irvine at noon.

“I don’t want to say we like playing with our backs against the wall,” UH center fielder Matthew Miura said. “But when you’re in a must-win-or-go-home game, you’re always going to give your best effort and best attitude. We just kept the attitude we had to win this. We played like our lives depended on it. We just got along with that and kept the train going.”

For the third week in a row, the ’Bows were placed in a position of stress. They needed to win a road series against Cal State Fullerton and take two of three from UC San Diego to qualify as the fourth seed in this five-team tournament at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif. In Wednesday’s game between UH and No. 5 UCSB, one team would be heading into the offseason.

UCSB coach Andrew Checketts had two aces — Tyler Bremner, whom many predict will be a first-round selection in this year’s MLB Draft, and Jackson Flora, who will be one of the top pro prospects in 2026. To keep the pitching order intact, Checketts went with Flora, who has thrown a 100-mph pitch this season. Bremner was saved for a “next game” that did not materialize.

Flora and UH freshman Cooper Walls were engaged in a pitching duel through four innings. With the score knotted at 1-all, Walls exited after allowing a leadoff walk and then LeTray McCollum’s single in the top of the fifth. With the Gauchos’ lineup on the third turn of at bats and Cory Ronan firing 92-mph pitches in the bullpen, UH coach Rich Hill decided to make the first move. “In an elimination game, it just changes things,” Hill said.

Ronan eventually yielded catcher Nate Vargas’ sacrifice fly as the Gauchos went ahead 2-1 in the fifth.

In the bottom of the inning, Miura drew a one-out walk and Shunsuke Sakaino followed with a single to center. “Lahaina Grown” — a walk-up song and motivational tool — played as Ben Zeigler-Namoa approached the batter’s box.

“It’s always been my walk-up song since the fires,” said Zeigler-Namoa, who lived 10 minutes north of Lahaina and attended Lahainaluna High as a freshman. “I really enjoy representing them and I think there always should be a spotlight on the community, especially in the rough times they’re still going through.”

With Flora still throwing in the high 90s, the Gauchos’ strategy was to induce Zeigler-Namoa to chase. The UH coaches, in turn, implored Zeigler-Namoa to hunt pitches in the zone.

“Honestly, I was just going up there trying to compete,” Zeigler-Namoa said, “especially with runners in scoring position. It’s kind of my job this year. … I was trying to be aggressive.”

Zeigler-Namoa connected on Flora’s 97-mph fastball, driving it over the fence in left-center for a three-run homer and a 4-2 UH lead.

“He hit it pretty fat,” Checketts said. “Nice swing by him. He turned on a good heater and hit it a long way. … It looked like it was a little bit fat. We were trying to be a little finer on it.”

Zeigler-Namoa said he did not realize “it was 97 (mph) on the black (outside edge of the plate). I put a good swing on it, and it went out. I was fortunate.”

In the seventh, Hunter Faildo led off with a walk, prompting Flora’s departure. Right-swinging Miura then hit a Cole Tryba pitch off the Michelob Ultra sign beyond the right-field fence.

“On deck, Coach Dave (Nakama) told me to treat it like angle hitting,” Miura said, noting most left-handers throw pitches that break toward right-handed hitters.

“If it comes into you,” I try to hit it as hard as I can the other way,” Miura said. “God’s grace helped me out a little bit.”

With one on and one out in the seventh, Hill beckoned closer Isaiah Magdaleno.

“I’ve been there before, so it was nothing new,” Magdaleno said of the eight-out assignment. “I was ready for it.”

Hill said: “Knowing Mags, he would have come in the second inning and been fine.”

Jack Holman hit a right-side grounder for a possible double play. But Sakaino’s toss went past shortstop Jordan Donahue as LeTrey McCollum reached safely at second.

Checketts then signaled for a double steal. But McCollum did not get a quick break and was thrown out at third by Faildo.

“As good as Magdaleno is, it’s hard to envision you’re going to string a lot of hits together against him,” Checketts said. “It blew up in our face. … Hindsight’s always 20/20. Trey’s our best base stealer there. … I would do that again. Trey didn’t get a great jump. He was a little flat-footed. … In terms of trying to score off that arm, we needed him to advance there and then punch one through and try to get closer. But that was a big momentum shift. Nice throw by the catcher.”

Magdaleno pitched 2 ⁄3 innings to earn his eighth save.

The ‘Bows now play UC Irvine, which ran away to winning the regular-season title. The Anteaters swept the ‘Bows last month, pitching shutouts the last two games.

“They sprinted to that early lead,” Hill said of the Anteaters, “when we just had to fight, scratch and crawl to get up to the cliff and look over the edge for three straight weekends. … I know our guys will be loose, and compete, and we’re a very hot team right now.”

NO. 4 HAWAII 6,

NO. 5 UC SANTA BARBARA 2

GAUCHOS AB R H BI BB SO LOB

McCollum rf 5 1 3 0 0 2 1

Holman 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kim dh 4 0 2 1 0 1 1

Vargas c 3 0 0 1 0 0 2

Mendez 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 2

Kelly cf 3 0 1 0 0 0 0

Esquer 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 1

Kosciusko lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 1

Nunez ss 2 1 0 0 2 0 0

Totals 32 2 7 2 2 4 8

RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO LOB

Miura cf 3 2 1 2 1 0 0

Sakaino 2b 3 1 1 0 0 0 0

Zglr.-Namoa 1b 4 1 2 3 0 1 0

Quandt rf 3 1 0 0 1 1 2

Donahue ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 0

Ickes 3b 3 0 2 1 0 0 0

Nahaku lf 3 0 0 0 1 1 0

Takemoto dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 3

Faildo c 3 1 1 0 0 1 0

Totals 30 6 8 6 3 5 5

UCSB 001 010 000 — 2 7 0

Hawaii 010 030 20x — 6 8 1

Records: Hawaii (34-19), UC Santa

Barbara (36-18)

E—Sakaino. LOB—UC Santa Barbara 8,

Hawaii 5. 2B—Donahue. HR—Miura, Zeigler-Namoa. HBP—Holman; Sakaino. SF—

Vargas; Ickes. SH—Rowan. CS—McCollum.

PO—Nahaku.

UC SANTA BARBARA IP H R ER BB SO

Flora (L, 6-3) 6 7 5 5 2 2

Tryba 2 1 1 1 1 3

HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO

Walls 4 5 2 2 1 1

Ronan (W, 3-2) 21

⁄3 2 0 0 0 0

Magdaleno (S, 8) 22

⁄3 0 0 0 1 3

Walls pitched to 2 batters in the 5th

Flora pitched to 1 batter in the 7th

HBP—Sakaino (by Flora); Holman (by

Walls).

Umpires—HP: Christopher Torres. 1B: Michael Chukerman. 2B: Mike Lusky. 3B: Lee

Meyers. T—2:36. A—478.