Before the 2025 season began for the University of Hawai‘i baseball team, head coach Rich Hill said the new turf at Les Murakami Stadium should cause fewer delays during home games, claiming it was the driest place on O‘ahu during a recent storm.
No rain was in sight on a sunny Thursday in Mānoa, yet the scheduled 6:35 p.m. first pitch between Hawai‘i and Wichita State was pushed back just hours before the game.
Wichita State, which arrived in the Islands on Thursday night, made the trip to O‘ahu by connecting through Dallas. Although the Shockers eventually made it to Hawai‘i, many key pieces of equipment did not.
The Shockers were missing all of their bats, catcher's gear, training equipment and uniforms on Thursday afternoon. Hawai‘i head coach Rich Hill and Wichita State head coach Brian Green conferred earlier in the day to push first pitch back an hour to 7:35 p.m. with the hope that WSU's gear would arrive before the game began.
Only the uniforms arrived in time for Wichita State. Everything else was borrowed from UH. The Rainbow Warriors eventually won 4-3 in a 10-inning trudge that lasted three hours and 42 minutes.
"Certainly it was a strange day," Green said after the game. "I showed up today and gave the pregame message in a Duke's T-Shirt and board shorts and slippers."
When Wichita State left Kansas ahead of its five-game road trip at Hawai‘i, its flight was delayed due to a foot of snow in the area, which proved to be just the start of its travel issues.
The Rainbow Warriors loaned the Shockers catcher's gear and handful of their black helmets, which had their "H" logo peeled off. The Shockers, who normally use Louisville Slugger bats, also used a handful of UH's brand new DeMarini bats, some of which have a retail value as high as $399.95.
"They're fresh out the wrapper," UH baseball director of operations Casey Isa said of the bats. "We thought we'll give them some good stuff. We don't want to provide them broken bats or anything. We kind of have to keep it fair as well. It was a good night.
"We help out each other. The baseball community is real small here, and everybody knows somebody, so you've got to make good connections when you can."
The relationship between Hill and Green goes back decades. Green coached under Hill at the University of San Diego in 2002, departing to take a spot on UH's staff in 2003 and 2004.
"Rich is great. He's a true friend," Green said. "He was more than accommodating for us."
Part of the reason why Hill and Green wanted to play on Thursday instead of making Saturday a doubleheader was because Thursday's game was slotted to be televised, whereas Saturday's and Sunday's games were not.
During the game, the arrival of Wichita State's equipment got pushed back to 9:20 p.m. but it never made it to the stadium in time. Afterwards, Green confirmed near midnight that the gear was headed to the team hotel.
On the field, the Rainbow Warriors led 3-1 through seven innings, but the Shockers tied the game despite facing UH's two top relievers in Zacary Tenn and Liam O'Brien.
An infield single from Elijah Ickes in the bottom of the tenth inning drove in Matthew Miura and gave the 'Bows their third walk-off win of the young season, improving to 5-0 overall.
"Coach mentions that Mānoa magic, and there's just something special about this team," said Ickes, who has stepped in for the time being to replace an injured Jordan Donahue at the shortstop position. "It really shows this bond that we have together. Really, really excited just to be on the field with this group of guys."
Dating back to 2024, Hawai‘i has won 10 straight games and 16 consecutive home games, continuing to win in rousing fashion.
"We need to stop that," Isa joked of UH's heart-stopping walk-off victories in 2025. "We need to win it in regulation and win it outright. But it's a fun group of guys. I love being around them and seeing these guys celebrate and dogpile almost like every night. It's super cool."
"It's exciting," Hill added of Thursday's turnstile crowd of 1,516, "giving the fans their money's worth. The late start, the late ending, it's all good. When you win a game in walk-off fashion like that, it's exciting for everybody. It just shows a lot from your team in the terms of grit, in terms of toughness, and there's a lot of heroes."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
