With 10 regular season games remaining, the University of Hawai‘i baseball team is currently sixth place in the Big West standings at 28-14 overall and 12-12 in conference games.
If the Big West's inaugural five-team conference tournament were to begin this week, the Rainbow Warriors would be on the outside looking in. The 'Bows will not get an opportunity to gain ground in the standings this week, as a four-game nonconference series against No. 7 Oregon State is on UH's slate from Friday to Monday.
The 'Bows are set to play at Cal State Fullerton from May 9-11, then close out the regular season at home from May 15-18 against UC San Diego. Both teams are ahead of the Rainbow Warriors in the Big West standings.
In spite of the critical conference games ahead, Hawai‘i refuses to look past the Beavers. Three of the four games in the series are sold out, with the exception of Monday, which only has upper level seats available.
For four games, the 'Bows will compete against one of the sport's most iconic brands in front of a large home crowd at Les Murakami Stadium. That alone is motivation enough, according to head coach Rich Hill.
"The fans are knowledgeable here. They're passionate," Hill said. "They stay to the end, win or lose, they're behind their team. But I really believe they needed to be treated to a venue like this and a playing surface like this, and food in the stadium like we have. But to have a team like Oregon State come in for four games is amazing."
Oregon State, formerly of the Pac-12, is playing a fully independent schedule after the conference got reduced to two teams. The Beavers are currently 32-11 with a star-studded lineup, but no player on the team has shined brighter than Saint Louis alumnus Aiva Arquette.
Arquette, who began his collegiate career at Washington, is currently batting .362 with 16 home runs in his junior season. The 6-foot-5 shortstop, who was also a star basketball player at Saint Louis, is heavily in contention to be the first overall pick of the 2025 MLB Draft in July.
"It's like trying to stop Steph Curry," Hill said. "Aiva's a tremendous player and and even better character guy. ... Proud of a local boy and wish him all the success in the world. Just not this weekend."
The series will also be a reunion for University of Hawai‘i starting shortstop Jordan Donahue, who began his collegiate career at Oregon State. After redshirting in 2021, he transferred to UH, joining Hill for his first year at the helm in Mānoa.
Donahue, a 2020 graduate of Damien, received MLB Draft consideration as a high school senior before it was reduced to five rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A high profile high school prospect, Donahue chose Oregon State over multiple other scholarship offers.
"I suffered an injury up there, and things never really worked out," Donahue said.
Now a redshirt senior, Donahue is set to face his former team but says there's no added motivation.
"It all comes full circle. I started my college career there," Donahue said. "Very good opponent. I'm excited.
"It would be fun playing against any ranked opponent. But like coach always talks about, every opponent is nameless and faceless. If you just go out there and execute what we need to do on our side of the ball, then we should be in a pretty good spot."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
