IRVINE, Calif. – Senior
Jordan Donahue earned preseason All-Big West recognition while the Hawai'i baseball team was picked fourth in the conference preseason poll Friday following a vote by the league's coaches.
Donahue is coming off of a 2024 season in which he earned second-team All-Big West honors after hitting .349 with 17 doubles, two homers and 30 RBIs. The Rainbow Warrior shortstop committed just six errors in 182 chances, starting the final 50 games of the year at shortstop while holding down the leadoff spot for the last 36 games of 2024.
The Mililani, O'ahu native was also ranked No. 38 among all shortstops nationally by D1Baseball in the preseason – the highest-ranked shortstop in the Big West. Donahue also finished with a .458 OBP with 43 runs scored and 10 stolen bases, and went on an 18-game hitting streak – the fourth-longest ever by a UH player and the longest since 1998.
The Rainbow Warriors ended the 2024 season as one of the hottest teams in the country, winning 18 of their last 20 games of the year – tied for the best record nationally over a team's final 20 regular season games. UH also ended the season on an 11-game winning streak at Les Murakami Stadium and will head into the new season with the nation's longest active home winning streak.
In addition to Donahue, the Rainbow Warriors return a number of key contributors among their position players, led by home grown products
Elijah Ickes,
Matthew Miura and
Ben Zeigler-Namoa. The pitching staff will be made up of a mix of newcomers and key returnees from last year's staff that led the nation in ERA, including
Itsuki Takemoto,
Sebastian Gonzalez and
Zacary Tenn.
Hawai'i opens the 2025 season on Friday, Feb. 14 at 6:35 p.m. against Marshall at Les Murakami Stadium. Season tickets and single-game tickets are on sale now
HERE.
2025 Big West Preseason Poll
1. UC Santa Barbara – 99 (9)
2. UC Irvine – 89 (2)
3. Cal Poly – 79
4. Hawai'i – 76
5. UC San Diego – 63
6. CSUN – 50
7. UC Davis – 47
T8. Cal State Fullerton – 36
T8. Long Beach State – 36
10. Cal State Bakersfield – 18
11. UC Riverside – 12
