The University of Hawai‘i baseball team was eliminated from the Big West Conference tournament with a 2-1 loss to Cal Poly on Saturday afternoon.
Cal Poly (39-17) advances to the championship round against top seed UC Irvine, while Hawai‘i dropped to 35-21.
Playing its fourth win or go home game in less than a week, the Rainbow Warriors fell despite outhitting the Mustangs 8-4. The Rainbow Warriors scored in the top of the first with an RBI double from Ben-Zeigler Namoa. UH could not score in each of the final eight innings.
On the mound, Freddy Rodriguez got the start for the Rainbow Warriors and took the loss. The Cal Poly transfer battled through six innings against his former team, allowing three hits and two walks to go with his three strikeouts in 80 pitches.
Cal Poly did all of its scoring in the fourth inning, scoring on Nate Castellon's sacrifice fly and Casey Murray's RBI single. Josh Morano picked up the win, pitching 6.1 shutout innings of relief.
Following the game, Hawai‘i head coach Rich Hill allowed his seniors to speak to the team in an emotional moment that in all likelihood marked the end of the season.
"I'm just so proud of our guys," Hill said in the postgame press conference. "Our seniors speak when the last pitch is thrown and I like doing that at the field. It's raw, there's some vulnerability, and it really represents what our culture is really about, and it's family."
Since joining the Big West in 2013, the Rainbow Warriors did not have a winning conference record until Hill's first season in 2022. The 'Bows have gone above .500 in each of his four seasons at the helm in Mānoa.
"It is pretty amazing what these seniors have been able to do. From the time we got on campus four years ago to now, the on-field success speaks for itself," Hill said. "It's about growth and development. It's about these guys going out into their community and just being pillars and being great fathers and great husbands, and learning the things through the game of baseball, specifically, but really sports, that's going to enable them to put the gloves on and just kind of get after it in life, and that's what our culture is all about."
With an RPI of 54, it is unlikely the Rainbow Warriors will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 2025 selection show is set for 6 a.m. HST on Monday. UH has not played in an NCAA Regional since 2010.
Some of Hawai‘i's top players in 2025 were underclassmen, particularly pitchers Isaiah Magdaleno and Cooper Walls. UH is not immune to see impact players depart for other schools, as was the case with former UH pitcher Harrison Bodendorf, who signed with Oklahoma State out of the NCAA transfer portal in 2024. When asked about the future of the program, Hill remained optimistic, mentioning the potential of Magdaleno and Rodriguez to be frontline starters alongside Walls in 2026.
Despite its likely fate of not reaching the postseason, Hill lauded the Big West for holding a tournament for the first time since 1998 and how it changed the tone of the season for teams in the conference.
"It completely changed (the season) in a positive way," Hill said. "It's just such a great experience for the teams that are here now, the teams that got left out, it was great for them too...this just gave all these student-athletes playing to the last weekend, there were so many teams in it, and it was just exciting.
"I thought the Big West did a great job running this event. ... It felt like a regional, and that's how it should feel. The experience of championship baseball was felt by five different teams. Couldn't be more excited, more happy that we did it."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
