HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i baseball team will break its 355 day moratorium from competition in a true road series on the mainland for the first time in NCAA program history. The Rainbow Warriors will open the season with a three-game series at Arizona State and play 51 total games in 2021.
The Rainbow Warriors have opened the season on the road ten total times, only nine have been true away games and both of those nine were against Hawai'i-Hilo. The first-ever game to open a season away from Hawai'i was in 1973 when the Rainbow Warriors played in the UC Riverside Tournament.
"With all that's transpired over the past year, the opportunity to get back on the field and play baseball is truly a blessing," head coach Mike Trapasso said. "The pandemic obviously affected our non conference schedule this season, but we're excited to open up at Arizona State, one of college baseball's premier programs."
A total of 28 games are scheduled to be played inside the friendly confines of Les Murakami Stadium. Hawai'i will host Hawai'i Pacific for the first time since 2006 when the 'Bows open their home slate on March 4-7 with the Sharks. Hawai'i will then host Hawai'i-Hilo for the second year in a row the following weekend.
Hawai'i will host Long Beach State to open Big West Conference-play and will also host Big West preseason favorite UC Santa Barbara two weeks later. With 11 conference schools after the addition of UC San Diego and CSU Bakersfield, each team will have one conference bye week. Hawai'i's bye-week is scheduled for the week of May 3-9.
Big West competition will consist of four-game series' with Saturday double headers. The Rainbow Warriors will host both Big West newcomers CSU Bakersfield and UC San Diego.
"The conference season of four game weekends will present unique challenges," Trapasso said. "But with challenges also come opportunities. So, we look forward to the opportunity to once again compete on the diamond."
At this time, fans will not be allowed at Hawai'i baseball games.
Full schedule
