For most pitchers, getting yanked from the starting rotation would be a huge disappointment.

For Harley Holt, it’s been the best thing to happen to him this season.

"I love coming out of the ‘pen now," the Cal State Northridge junior said. "They started me out as the Saturday guy and I had a couple of rough outings — mentally I was struggling.

"Coming out of the ‘pen, I can focus on my one or two innings out there and being in those situations, you can’t compare it to anything else. I love it."

Holt, a 2010 Kamehameha alumnus, hopes to close out one of the Matadors’ next three games as Northridge visits Les Murakami Stadium for a three-game series against Hawaii starting Friday night.

Holt was high school teammates with current Rainbows Kalei Hanawahine and Pi‘ikea Kitamura.

Holt said was ecstatic when he heard that Hawaii would join the Big West Conference in baseball.

It meant he’d finally get a chance to play in front of the hometown fans.

"I grew up always hoping that I was going to get to play there some day," Holt said. "But playing away on the mainland is fun, too."

Holt said Hawaii was the first to contact him in high school. He said he had scholarship offers from schools such as Gonzaga, Washington State and San Francisco, among others, but eventually decided on Northridge.

"I didn’t want to go up to the Northwest because I knew the weather was pretty bad up there and I wanted to stay somewhere sunny," Holt said. "My parents didn’t make the decision for me, but they told me they thought there were a lot more opportunities job-wise and meeting new people to go away and they helped me make my decision.

"They never made the decision for me, but by the end, I understood the different options I had and decided to go away to the mainland."

Holt more than tripled the amount of innings he pitched as a freshman during his sophomore year, helping Northridge win four more conference games.

After finishing 10-14 in the Big West last year, the Matadors are 5-4 through the first three weeks this season, including a three-game sweep of UC Riverside.

Cal State Northridge is one of five teams separated by one game behind conference leader Cal State Fullerton.

"One thing that is different is we get along a lot more as a team and we have fun and you don’t feel so much stress and pressure every time you play," Holt said. "One of the things that is different about this conference is it’s so hard to win away from home. Road trips are tough."

With the inclusion of Hawaii in the league this year, the Matadors will have to make the 51⁄2 -hour plane ride to Hawaii for the first time.

Northridge will leave for the islands Thursday afternoon.

"It’s different, but everyone is excited," Holt said. "We understand it’ll be a tough environment to play in out there and we need to prepare ourselves mentally."

Holt has allowed only two hits in his last three outings, allowing no runs in 52⁄3 innings.

He earned his first save last month in the Matadors’ final nonconference series and added another in a win over UC Riverside two weeks ago.

He’s 3-2 with a 4.32 ERA overall this season, but has a 1.72 ERA in 152⁄3 innings out of the bullpen with 14 strikeouts.