As the Hawaii baseball team prepares for its final six games of the regular season, head coach Rich Hill believes the Rainbow Warriors — and the Big West Conference — are on the right path.
“I’ve kind of come full circle — not kind of, I really have,” said Hill, who now endorses this year’s inaugural Big West Tournament. “I’ve seen what (a postseason tournament has) done for the betterment of the league, for student-athlete experience. … It’s the best way for us to get multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament.”
Through last year, the regular-season champion earned the Big West’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Now five teams qualify for the Big West Tournament, whose winner receives the accompanying NCAA berth.
Hill was among some coaches concerned that the format would not reward a team that finished first in the regular season but did not claim the tournament title. That was the situation when Hill was the University of San Diego’s head coach. In 2015, the Toreros’ 19-8 record was the best in the West Coast Conference. But in failing to reach the WCC tournament final round, the Toreros did not receive an NCAA bid.
Hill said the “scary thing” is a team can win the regular season outright, “play 30 (league) games or 27 games, and still have an RPI over 50, and (lose) two in a row (in the tournament), and you’re out. I don’t think that should happen.”
But Hill has changed his view, believing that the Big West is the top conference in the West and deserving of more than one NCAA bid. He said an at-large invitation should be awarded to a team that succeeded during the regular season but did not win the league tournament.
The tournament also has kept alive interest for late-surging teams teams competing for one of the five spots. Despite winning 15 of their final 16 league games last year, the ’Bows were eliminated from title contention with three weekends remaining in the season. They finished third.
“I think there’s more positives on the side of a conference tournament,” Hill said. “Everybody’s excited.”
The ’Bows are 12-12 and in sixth place ahead of Friday’s opener of a three-game road series against Cal State Fullerton. With six games remaining — they host UC San Diego in a three-game series next week — the ’Bows appear to have a say in whether they qualify for one of the five spots in the Big West Tournament. They trail fifth-place UC Santa Barbara (14-13) by 1.5 games. The Gauchos have three games left. The ’Bows own the tie-breaker between the teams.
Fullerton also has used the tournament as incentive. After starting 0-5 in league games, the Titans won 16 of their next 19 to move into third place at 16-8. Hill also has come down with a case of pennant fever.
“It’s a great thing about baseball that we all love,” Hill said. “The pennant race. Coming down to the last day, and how many games ahead and how many games behind. And we’re doing the magic number and math and all this. It’s kind of the mystique about baseball, the romance that we have with it.”
RAINBOW WARRIOR BASEBALL
At Goodwin Field, Fullerton, Calif.
Hawaii (29-17, 12-12 Big West) vs. Cal State Fullerton (26-22, 16-8 BW)
>> Schedule: Friday at 3:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.
>> TV: None
>> Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM
>> Streaming: ESPN+
