The University of California Riverside baseball team is having a heated battle. But that’s lukewarm compared to this week’s host, Hawaii.
The Highlanders begin their Big West series against the Rainbows here Thursday on a three-game winning streak.
“They’re very good offensively, they’re very well-coached, and their pitching is starting to come together,” UC coach Rich Hill said. “Just like us. We don’t want to play with them at this point, and we don’t want to play in Hawaii at this point.”
Maybe it’s not “just like” at all. UH is also currently on a winning streak. But the eight games are far more impressive than that.
And the Bowes’ last three wins have come against teams that were on a tear when they arrived on Oahu. Cal State Northridge came into Les Murakami Stadium last week having won nine straight games. Despite being overwhelmed by the Rainbows, the Matadors prevailed 17-3, leaving Gorred alone.
This puts UH on the brink of its first 30-win season since 2012 and since leaving the WAC for the Big West. With nine games remaining in the season, the Rainbows are 29-15 overall and 12-9 in the conference.
They lead UCR (15-28, 5-16) by seven games in the conference standings.
Other indicators also point to Hawaii as a team likely to continue its winning ways. Five of the eight wins during this streak have come here, and the ‘Bows’ home field advantage should still be significant against the Highlanders.
Most of the world is designed for right-handed people. Murakami Stadium is one of his most notable exceptions.
It’s nothing new. It is enough to observe how the trees beyond the outfield fence bend towards right field and how the flag flutters in the wind.
“The wise old-school coach (Les Murakami) for whom the stadium is named has known this formula for a long time,” Hill said. “Left-handed pitcher, left-handed batter.”
That was especially true in the CSUN series, where three left-handed starting pitchers, Sebastian Gonzalez, Randy Abshire and Harrison Bodendorf, combined for just two earned runs in 16 2/3 innings.
And who knows? If it weren’t for the left-to-right wind, that hit from CSUN’s Jalen Sanderson’s bat that would have initially been ruled a grand slam and temporarily tied the game at 5-all would have clearly been on the fair side of the pole. Yes, there would have been no judgment. After further review by the referee, foul ball.
Right-hander Alex Giroux certainly wasn’t too bad, pitching the final five innings of UH’s win in Game 1, not allowing anyone on base and striking out eight. This earned him the Big West Pitcher of the Week award.
Riverside’s pitching numbers this season have been abysmal, including a 7.10 ERA. However, in last week’s game against California State University, Bakersfield, right-hander Noah Antorunas pitched 7 2/3 innings and had a shutout with five hits, resulting in a 5-4, 3-0 victory. But we’ll see how he stacks up against Hawaii’s lineup, which includes four left-handers who lead the team in batting average: Jordan Donahue (.364), Austin Machado (.340) and Kyson Donahue. (.331), and Jake Tsukada (.331). 316).
This was UH’s second eight-game winning streak in Hill’s three seasons here. Two years ago, the games included a home sweep against the Highlanders.
Their winning streak in 2022 saved them from a transition season that looked like they were on the verge of losing.
The 2024 winning streak has made the Rainbows the hottest team in the Big West, but they still have nine games left against the team at the bottom of the standings. Unfortunately, even if they win, Hawaii will catch up with or slide below top-ranked UC Santa Barbara (17-4) and top-ranked UC Irvine (15-6) nationally. There is virtually no chance of finishing with a good enough rating index. First NCAA regional tournament in over 10 years.
But this run, which started two weeks ago, has definitely made this team a very entertaining watch. And all three of Hill’s UH teams improved significantly as the season progressed.
