For three baseball games over the next four days, Les Murakami Stadium becomes the Manoa Valley Theatre.
“You can almost call it the Hawaii Super Regional,” UC San Diego coach Eric Newman said of the Big West series against Hawaii.
“That’s exactly right,” said UH coach Rich Hill, noting the winner of the three-game series clinches a berth in next week’s Big West Championship tournament in Fullerton, Calif. “It’s a best of three. It feels like postseason baseball, where there’s consequence good or bad.”
UH, UCSD and UC Santa Barbara are tied for fourth place at 14-13 in the Big West with three regular-season games remaining. Five teams qualify for the Big West tournament, whose winner earns the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. If UH wins all three and first-place UC Irvine sweeps No. 3 Cal State Fullerton this weekend, the ’Bows could earn the third seed and accompanying first-round bye.
UH and UCSD have a short week to prepare for tonight’s opener. To accommodate UH’s commencement ceremonies on Saturday, the series will be played tonight, Friday and Sunday. The ’Bows returned to Honolulu on Monday following last weekend’s road series against Fullerton. UCSD traveled to Hawaii on Wednesday. This also is final-exam week for UH.
“The travel, the short week (are) not factors,” Hill said. “UCSD is doing the same thing, right?”
But Hill and his coaches have been mulling several pitching options for this series.
The past two weeks, the ’Bows have tightened the pitching rotation to starters Itsuki Takemoto, Sebastian Gonzalez and Cooper Walls; and relievers Liam O’Brien, Cory Ronan, Max Jones, Freddy Rodriguez, Ethan Thomas, Charlie Adamson and closer Isaiah Magdaleno.
Takemoto could stay put as the series-opening starter or move to his usual Friday slot. Walls is fully healthy after leaving Sunday’s start in the third inning after a line drive struck his left calf. He is fresh enough to move up in the rotation, if needed. With a day off on Saturday, O’Brien, Rodriguez and Magdaleno probably could pitch multiple innings tonight or Friday, and then come back on Sunday.
“He’s our MVP,” Hill said of Magdaleno, who is 4-1 with six saves, a 2.88 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Magdaleno averages 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings. “Without him, we wouldn’t be here on this championship weekend.”
In four seasons as UH head coach, Hill has made tactical calls, such as moving Jared Quandt from backup catcher to starting right fielder, and turning Ben Zeigler-Namoa from a pitcher/outfielder to everyday first baseman. During the Fullerton series, Zeigler-Namoa, a middle-of-the-order power hitter, batted leadoff in a game. Mired in a slump, left fielder Kamana Nahaku was not in the starting lineup last Sunday for the first time in 28 games. Nahaku then came off the bench in the fourth inning to hit 3-for-4, including his ninth home run.
“We take it game by game,” Hill said. “It’s seventh game of the World Series. We’re not trying to win two out of three. It’s like, Game 1, and then the smoke clears, and it’s Game 2. What’s going to put us in the best position to win game by game?”
The inaugural Big West tournament is synchronized to UCSD’s first season of postseason eligibility after a four-year probationary transition from Division II. Newman has had only two losing seasons in his 14 years as UCSD’s head coach, both coming in the first two seasons of the transition, The Tritons had the best Big West record in 2023. “We have a solid team,” Newman said of this season’s Tritons. “Maybe not the same caliber as that 2023 team, certainly not on the mound. … This group has embraced their own identify. They’re plugging along. They’re competing.”
The Tritons have had to overcome injuries to key players.
“We know this isn’t the team we started the year with,” Newman said. “It’s not even close. But, I mean, here we are.”
In the first game of the season, right fielder Nick Costello suffered a season-ending hand injury. That weekend, Trevor Rector, who was viewed as a starting pitcher or closer, suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. On April 4, shortstop Noah Lazuka sustained a torn meniscus. On April 21, infielder Patrick Hackworth suffered a broken foot.
First baseman Gabe Camacho missed several games because of a broken thumb. After that, Camacho, who had to wear a hand guard, was limited to designated hitter.
“This is the first weekend he’ll be able to play first base,” Newman said of Camacho.
Anthony Postestio, who moved from second to short, is hitting .331 and is 9-for-10 on steals. Center fielder Michael Crossland is batting .342. Of his 67 hits, 30 have gone for extra bases, including 14 home runs. Matthew Dalquist is the series-opening starting pitcher.
“Dalquist has been a workhorse,” Newman said of Dalquist’s team-high 74 2/3 innings. “He throws a lot of strikes. He doesn’t beat himself.” Dalquist has 61 strikeouts against 12 walks.
Nic Gregson and Steele Murdock, whose fastball touched 97 mph last week, are the other two starters. For now.
“You never know,” Newman said. “You can easily see the first game being 2-2 in the 11th inning, and who are you going to throw in that game? That might be Gregson or Murdock (in relief) in that moment. You have to read it and see where you end up.”
Hill said: “Eric’s going to have those guys primed and focused. They’re such a tough team to play because they can hit. They play with a lot of confidence. Their bullpen is very, very strong. Lot of options. Lot of numbers. It’s going to be a tough challenge.”
RAINBOW WARRIOR BASEBALL
At Les Murakami Stadium
Hawaii (31-18, 14-13 Big West) vs. UC San Diego (25-23, 14-13 BW)
>> Schedule: 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Friday; 1:05 p.m. Sunday
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM/92.7-FM
