The University of Hawaii baseball team closed out its regular season with a 5-2 win over Cal State Fullerton in front of a sellout crowd of 3,869 on Saturday afternoon.
Hawaii closed out its regular season 37-16 overall and 20-10 in Big West Conference play, holding out slim hope for an at-large postseason bid while achieving a pair of rare accolades.
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Hawaii’s mark of 37-16 is the program’s first season in which it finished 20 games above .500 since 2006, while its 20 wins are the first time the Rainbow Warriors have reached that benchmark since joining the conference. In order to do so, the ‘Bows won 16 of their last 17 games.
Saturday’s game got off to an inauspicious start for Hawaii, as starter Connor Harrison gave up solo home runs to the first two batters he faced.
As has been the story for much of the year, the Rainbow Warriors did not flinch, claiming a 3-2 lead by the bottom of the second inning on RBI doubles from Jared Quandt and Elijah Ickes.
Harrison was relieved in the fourth inning by Zac Tenn, who struck out four while scattering three hits in 3.1 shutout innings to get the win.
Austin Machado had a team-high two hits for Hawaii, including an RBI single in the fifth inning.
From there, Itsuki Takemoto did the rest of the pitching for UH, locking down the save with 2.2 perfect innings in which he struck out four.
Christian Rodriguez took the loss for Cal State Fullerton (16-38, 7-23 Big West) after allowing seven hits, five runs and two walks in 4.2 innings with three strikeouts.
Offensively, Jakob Schardt had a game-high three hits for the Titans.
After the game, the Rainbow Warriors honored 14 seniors as part of senior night festivities.
The 2024 NCAA baseball tournament selection show begins on Monday at 6 a.m. HST on ESPN2. UC Santa Barbara won the Big West’s regular season title, earning the conference’s automatic bid. Hawaii finished third in the conference standings behind the Gauchos and UC Irvine.