HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i baseball team stays home for a four-game series in Les Murakami Stadium against Hawai'i-Hilo. The two teams meet for the second year in a row after the two teams opened the 2020 season against each other in Manoa. Due to state and county guidelines, fan attendance is prohibited at Les Murakami Stadium.
 

HAWAI'I (5-2, 0-0 Big West) vs Hawaii Hilo (0-0, 0-0 Pac West)
Date | Time				Friday, March 12 at 6:35 p.m. HT; Saturday, March 13 at 1:05 p.m. HT; Sunday, March 14 at 1:05 p.m. HT
Location				Honolulu, O'ahu - Les Murakami Stadium
Television				Spectrum Sports
Live Stream				BigWest.tv
Radio				ESPN Honolulu | Sideline Hawaii App
Live Stats				Hawaii Athletics
Game Notes				Hawai'i | Hawaii Hilo
Social Media				@HawaiiBaseball  | #HawaiiBSB | @HawaiiBSB  | Facebook

 

PROBABLE ROTATION
HAWAI'I								HAWAII HILO
Name				Yr.		(Rec., ERA)	DAY	Name	Yr.		(Rec., ERA)
Aaron Davenport				So.	RHP	(1-0, 1.93)	Thu.	Brandyn Lee-Lehano	Sr.	RHP	(0-0, 0.00)
Cade Halemanu				So.	RHP	(0-0, 4.70)	Fri.	Cameron Scudder	Jr.	LHP	(0-0, 0.00)
Austin Teixeira				Fr.	LHP	(2-0, 0.00)	Sat.	Jonathan Buhl	Jr	RHP	(0-0, 0.00)
TBA							Sun.	Kyle Alcorn	R-Jr.	LHP	(0-0, 0.00)

HEAD COACH MIKE TRAPASSO
Overall record: 517-507 (20th season)
At Hawai'i: same

SERIES VS HAWAII HILO
Overall record: 111-21, Hawai'i
Under Trapasso: 18-6, Hawai'i
Streak: Hawai'i, 3

FIRST PITCH

• Aaron Ujimori ranks 72nd in the country in batting average (.444). Ujimori has not struck out this year.
• Hawai'i ranks 17th in the nation in batting average (.321).
• The Rainbow Warriors have turned the 7th most double plays per game in the country (1.29).
• Hawai'i has allowed the 15th fewest walks per nine innings in the country (2.80).
• Aaron Davenport has gone 7.0+ innings in three consecutive outings dating back to last year.
• The Rainbow Warriors swept a four-game series for the first time since sweeping Longwood (3/1-5/19).
• Hawai'i won an away game at a ranked non-conference opponent for the second year in a row (Vanderbilt in 2020) when the Rainbow Warriors topped #15 Arizona State to open the 2021 season.
• Konnor Palmeira hit his first collegiate home run in his first collegiate at-bat (0-1 count) at Arizona State.
• Aaron Davenport was named a preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Davenport ranked 2nd in the country in wins (4-0) in 2020 and had a 2.15 ERA. 
• Four freshman local products stayed home in 2021 adding to the six local freshman from 2020. Hawai'i has 18 local players on its roster in 2021.
• Hawai'i topped a top-five team for the first time since 2013 (#3 Cal State Fullerton, April 26) when they upset #2 Vanderbilt Feb. 29, 2020.
• Hawai'i finished third in the nation in sacrifice bunts (18) and sacrifice flies (14) in 2020.
• Hawai'i recorded its first shutout since April 15, 2018 when the Bows shutout NDSU 8-0 (2/17/20).
• Kole Kaler became the program's first All-American since 2011, when Kolten Wong and Lenny Linsky were All-Americans, after being named a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Third-Team All-American in 2020. Kaler ranked sixth nationally in doubles (9), 10th in triples (3) and ranked inside the top 100 in the country in batting average (74th), hits (76th), RBI's (83rd), slugging percentage (91st), total bases (82nd), sacrifice bunts (14th) and sacrifice flies (78th).

NCAA EXTENDS EXTRA YEAR TO SPRING SPORTS ATHLETES

All returning college players were granted an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic that ended the 2020 season six weeks into the season. All NCAA athletes (D-I, D-II and D-III), and junior college athletes keep their athletic standing from the 2020 season. Thus a freshman in 2020 is a freshman in 2021. A redshirt junior in 2020 stays a redshirt junior in 2021. 

Hawai'i has decided to label all athletes as their athletic eligibility rather than advance their eligibility or add on additional confusing language such as "second-year freshman" or "sixth-year junior."

Incoming freshmen are as listed, freshmen. 

HOMEGROWN TALENT
Head coach Mike Trapasso has built a strong contingent of talent from the Hawaiian islands, and brought in some of the top names from the 2020 class, including the second-ranked recruit in the state. In total, 18 of the teams' 37 roster spots are Hawai'i high school graduates, 10 of which are from O'ahu.
 

NAME	HOMETOWN (HIGH SCHOOL	YEAR	POS.
Bubba Akana	Honolulu, O'ahu (Saint Francis)	Fr.	INF
Tai Atkins	Kohala, Hawai'i (KS-Hawaii)	Fr.	LHP/OF
Naighel Calderon	Lanai City, Lanai (Lanai)	Fr.	OF
Matt Campos	Waipahu, O'ahu ('Iolani)	Jr.	INF
Nainoa Cardinez	Kapa'a, Kaua'i (Kapa'a)	Fr.	C/UTL
Dallas Duarte	Ke'eu, Hawai'i (KS-Hawai'i)	So.	C
Tyler Dyball	Honolulu, O'ahu (Kaiser)	Fr.	RHP
Cade Halemanu	Pearl City, O'ahu (Pearl City)	So.	RHP
Blake Hiraki	Honolulu, O'ahu ('Iolani)	Fr.	C
Trevor Ichimura	Honolulu, O'ahu ('Iolani)	Fr.	RHP
Jacob Igawa	Hilo, Hawai'i (Waiakea)	So.	UTL
Stone Miyao	Hilo, Hawai'i (Waiakea)	Fr.	INF
Konnor Palmeira	Kahalui, Maui (KS-Maui)	Fr.	C/UTL
Li'i Pontes	Honolulu, O'ahu (KS-Kapalama)	So.	RHP
Austin Teixeira	Waimanalo, O'ahu (Saint Louis)	Fr.	LHP/OF
Aaron Ujimori	Honolulu, O'ahu ('Iolani)	Fr.	INF
Safea Villaruz-Mauai	Hilo, Hawai'i (Waiakea)	Fr.	INF
Matt Wong	Honolulu, O'ahu (Saint Louis)	Jr.	OF