HONOLULU – The University of Hawaii baseball team has returned home and will face Cal State Northridge in a key three-game Big West Conference series Friday through Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.
HONOLULU – The University of Hawaii baseball team has returned home and will face Cal State Northridge in a key three-game Big West Conference series Friday through Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.
Friday’s and Saturday’s games each are scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and will be televised live statewide on OCSports channels 16 (SD) and 1016 (HD). Sunday’s game is set for 1:05 p.m. and will not be televised. All three games will be broadcast live on radio via ESPN 1420 AM (KHLO in Hilo and KKON in Kona).
The Rainbow Warriors are 12-23 overall and 3-6 in the Big West coming off three straight losses at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last weekend. Cal State Northridge (22-13, 2-7) is coming off a 10-8 non-conference home victory over Brigham Young after defeating UC Santa Barbara, 3-2, in 13 innings the day before.
UH lost the first two games of the Cal Poly series after holding late leads in each, blowing a 5-0 lead after four-and-a-half innings before losing, 7-5, last Friday and then losing a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday to fall, 3-2. The Rainbow Warriors also led 2-0 after two innings on Sunday before the Mustangs exploded for four runs each in the third and fourth en route to a 12-5 victory.
Alex Sawelson leads all Hawaii regulars in batting with a .309 average, with Eric Ramirez right behind at .308 with 24 runs batted in. Alan Baldwin is batting .292, Hilo High alum Chayce Ka‘aua is at .278 with 14 RBIs, and Kaeo Aliviado is hitting .274 with a team-high four home runs and 24 RBIs. Konawaena grad JJ Kitaoka is batting .216 but is third on the team in RBIs with 17.
The starting pitching rotation is still solid overall, led by Tyler Brashears (4-4, 2.35 earned run average) and LJ Brewster (4-3, 2.64 ERA). Senior left-hander Jarrett Arakawa got tagged for four runs in two and two-thirds innings last Sunday, but he is still 2-1 with a respectable 3.24 ERA overall.
The bullpen has been a point of concern this season, with Matt Valencia leading the way at 0-2 and a 3.93 ERA.
NO. 1-RANKED RAINBOW WARRIOR SPIKERS HEAD TO BYU
The No. 1-ranked UH men’s volleyball team will wrap up regular season play with a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches at No. 6 Brigham Young on Friday and Saturday.
Both matches are set for 3 p.m. Hawaii time and will be available for viewing via livestream at BYUTVSports.com