Jordan Donahue had yet to hit a home run for the University of Hawai‘i baseball team in 2025 heading into its regular season finale against UC San Diego.
Donahue and the Rainbow Warriors both saved their best for last on Sunday, electrifying a Les Murakami Crowd of 3,029 in a 13-2 rout over the Tritons, clinching a spot in the Big West tournament.
Donahue, one of the seniors honored on senior day on Sunday, went 4-for-5 with two home runs, five RBI and a double. A sold-out Les Murakami Stadium buzzed in anticipation during his final at-bat in which he flew out to shallow left, but the shortstop from Damien still drew a large ovation from the crowd and drew a curtain call. He entered Sunday with a batting average of .256 and raised it to .279 by the end of the contest.
"People were making jokes in the dugout, like, man, you're the only one with zero (home runs) in the lineup," Donahue said afterwards. "And I'm like, it's coming. And today, thankfully hit two and we went out there and got the win."
The timing of the three-game series was such that both teams knew they were playing for one spot in the inaugural Big West tournament. Whoever would win two games first would advance to the conference tournament in Fullerton, Calif., while the loser would have its season come to an early end.
UH opened the series with a 6-3 win on Thursday, using its four top pitchers in the process in Cooper Walls, Freddy Rodriguez, Sebastian Gonzalez and Isaiah Magdaleno.
On Friday, six different UH pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts while allowing just six hits, but the Rainbow Warriors still lost 12-6.
With a day off between Games 2 and 3, both teams entered Sunday's winner-take-all game with rested pitching staffs. Gonzalez got the start on Sunday and held the Tritons at bay for four innings, scattering four hits and two runs with a strikeout. Freddy Rodriguez then earned the win with four shutout innings, retiring the first 11 batters he faced, allowing just one baserunner on a single with three strikeouts. Magdaleno, the team's most relied-upon reliever, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to seal the win.
Hawai‘i pitchers allowed just five hits on Sunday after taking the day off on Saturday. With UH-Mānoa commencement festivities taking place at Les Murakami Stadium on Saturday, the field was unavailable to the players. After the pitching staff tried to hold practice at a nearby park, they were shut down due to not having a permit. The pitchers then went to Kahala Park and ran into the same issue. UH pitching coach Keith Zuniga then decided to give his arms the day off.
"Those three guys specifically," Zuniga said of Gonzalez, Rodriguez and Magdaleno, "they're bulldogs, and whether we were getting them on two days rest or a full week's rest, we know they're gonna go out there and compete for us any given night."
Following the win, the Rainbow Warriors celebrated their 13 seniors, including Ben Zeigler-Namoa, who went a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate with two runs on Sunday.
"We're in a playoff ball mindset. We're a very good ball team. We're taking it one game at a time," Zeigler-Namoa said. "We're very good ball club. And I think today we were win or go home, and I think it propelled us to really come out with some fire and energy today."
Hawai‘i's campaign resumes at 33-19 overall and 16-14 in Big West Conference play, while UCSD's season ends at 26-25 overall and 15-15 in Big West games.
The 'Bows are the 4 seed in the inaugural Big West tournament, which begins on Wednesday with a play-in game against fifth-seeded UC Santa Barbara. The 'Bows previously defeated the Gauchos in a home series in March.
Following the play-in game between UH and UCSB, the remaining four teams will play in a double-elimination format beginning on Thursday.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
