Bittersweet bookend

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. Especially after the way it began. Pi‘ikea Kitamura’s four-year Hawaii career has been book-ended by two vastly different experiences.

On Sunday, he will be honored after his 220th start in a Rainbow uniform as one of eight seniors taking part in their home finale against UC Davis (19-31, 5-16 Big West) at Les Murakami Stadium.

Along with Connor Little, they’re the two remaining holdovers from the 2010 Western Athletic Conference championship team that reached a regional final in Tempe, Ariz.

The ‘Bows also won a regular-season title in 2011, finishing 17-7 in conference before losing in the championship game and missing out on an at-large selection to the NCAA tournament.

This year has presented a much different challenge as the team has struggled through one of the worst seasons in school history.

It has given Kitamura, who is three hits shy of 200 for his career, a much greater appreciation for the successes.

"You come in as a freshman and you go to a regional, you don’t realize how special that is or how hard it is to get to that point," Kitamura said. "Definitely you appreciate it a lot more now."

Stepping in for Vinnie Catricala, who signed with the Seattle Mariners as a 10th-round pick after his junior year, Kitamura started 61 games as a freshman out of Kamehameha Schools.

He hit safely in all five WAC tournament games that year and finished the postseason batting .361 (13-for-36) with two doubles, five runs and five RBIs.

He took a pitch off his helmet to score the winning run in the NCAA regional opener over San Diego, and went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the season-ending loss to Arizona State.

"That was the best (hit-by-pitch) I’ve ever taken," Kitamura said. "How we turned things around the end of that season and picked up momentum in the WAC tournament, we were playing great baseball and that is something I’ll never forget."

Hawaii (12-33, 7-14) hasn’t been to a regional since after winning at least 30 games in each of his first three years, and needs four victories in its final six games to avoid setting a program low in wins.

Kitamura is fourth on the team with a .244 average but has cut down heavily on his strikeouts. He ranks as the 53rd-toughest hitter to punch out in the country, with only 12 in 168 at-bats.

"I feel for all of our guys this year, but you really feel for a guy like Pi‘ikea who has been here for four years and he was an integral part of back-to-back conference championship teams, played in a regional final, and has had a lot of success here," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "This isn’t a way you’d hope for him to go out, but he’s held this team together and has gotten our guys to grind every day."

Little, who arrived in Manoa out of Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego a year earlier than Kitamura, started the regional final against the Sun Devils and kept UH in the game through 52⁄3 innings.

He will come close to doubling his previous season high in innings pitched this year, and opens the final home weekend series of the year as UH’s No. 1 starter.

"It’s a chapter of my life that I have thoroughly enjoyed these last five years," Little said. "I got the opportunity to pitch in the final against Arizona State and I didn’t realize it then, but I started realizing now that that was my goal in life and I got a chance to pitch in a championship game, in a regional final.

"That’s a point in my life that I will look back on for years to come."

After missing the entire 2012 season with a nasty ankle injury, Little has bounced back to provide the Rainbows with a valuable — and rare — healthy arm.

His 16 walks are eight fewer than he had two years ago, despite pitching 33 more innings. He’s one of three Rainbows who will finish with more than 80 innings pitched.

"He’s had a five-year career with really good years as bookends," Trapasso said. "He had a super freshman year for us and then injuries took their toll until this year, where he’s been back being healthy and gone out there and kept us in games."

Nobody has stepped up more this year than right-hander Corey MacDonald, who transferred in from Cosumnes River College two years ago.

After failing to break into the pitching mix and throwing just 82⁄3 innings all year as a junior, MacDonald has won half of UH’s 12 games and recently dropped his ERA under 4 (3.84) for the first time in a month with a good outing against Long Beach State.

He’s pitched at least six innings in 11 straight starts and has developed into a possible pick in next month’s MLB Draft.

"I’ve left it all on the field and I can honestly say everyone else has too," MacDonald said. "Even though last year I didn’t play much, but this year has been a total turnaround and I’m just going to miss this stadium and all these people that come out to watch us play."

UH will also honor two-year players Max Duval, Jon Flinn, Patrick O’Rourke, Jim MacWilliam and Kris Butler after Sunday’s finale.

UH has lost its final home series only once since 2005.