Ensuring its latest trek to California wasn't short-lived, the University of Hawai‘i baseball team advanced in the Big West Conference tournament with a 6-2 victory over UC Santa Barbara in the play-in game on Wednesday in Fullerton.
The Rainbow Warriors improved to 34-19 and join UC Irvine, Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton in the four-team double-elimination tournament, starting with UC Irvine on Thursday at noon HST. UC Santa Barbara, the preseason favorite in the Big West, had its season end at 36-18.
"To be here is amazing," Hawai‘i head coach Rich Hill said in the postgame press conference. "The fact that we have a tournament now I think is is awesome. Perennial power, UC Santa Barbara...very good club. ... I just thought it was a great performance by our young people."
Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year Cooper Walls got the start for the Rainbow Warriors and kept the Gauchos at bay, allowing five hits and two earned runs in his four innings of work.
A three-run home run from Ben Zeigler-Namoa in the bottom of the fifth inning off UC Santa Barbara starter and 2026 MLB Draft prospect Jackson Flora gave the Rainbow Warriors the lead for good, putting UH in front 4-2.
"Honestly, I was just going out there trying to compete," Zeigler-Namoa said. "Being aggressive, especially with runners in scoring position, it's kind of my job. I was just trying to be aggressive, get a pitch over the plate. Didn't realize it was 97 (miles per hour). Put a good swing on it, and it went out, fortunately."
Matthew Miura padded Hawai‘i's lead with a two-run home run in the seventh inning.
Cory Ronan earned the win for the Rainbow Warriors after relieving Walls in the fifth, allowing just two hits in 2.1 innings. From there, All-Big West first teamer Isaiah Magdaleno locked down the save with 2.2 no-hit innings, finishing with three strikeouts and a walk.
"I've been there before, so it was nothing new," Magdaleno said of being counted on to earn a multiple-inning save. "I've been ready for it and felt great. Knew my defense was going to be behind me. So, really just going in there and being aggressive."
For UC Santa Barbara, leadoff hitter LeTrey McCollum had a game-high three hits but was caught stealing at third by UH catcher Hunter Faildo to end the seventh inning.
"Hawai‘i did a great job there. They hit two over the fence which changed the game. Competitive game, and I think Hawaii's bullpen did a great job. So, yeah, good baseball game. Hawai‘i came out on top," UC Santa Barbara head coach Andrew Checketts said.
On Thursday, Hawai‘i will take on UC Irvine, the 18th ranked team nationally in the USA Today Coaches Poll. In regular season play, the Rainbow Warriors were swept by the Anteaters in both 2024 and 2025, and have lost eight straight to UCI dating back to 2023.
"Extremely well-coached. We're very familiar with their program and their players," Hill said of UC Irvine. "It's a very disciplined program that's had a lot of time off, really. They've known they were going to be the Big West regular season champion, or have a share of it.
"They just sprinted to that early lead when we just had to fight, scratch, crawl to get up to the cliff to look over the edge for three straight weekends in a row. We don't know who we're going to start. I just know that our guys are going to be loose, we're going to compete, and we're a very hot team right now."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
