NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The Hawai'i baseball team dropped a wild, high-scoring 15-10 slugfest in game one of the series at CSUN Friday, snapping UH's six-game winning streak.
 
The two teams combined for five home runs, and 24 total hits as the Rainbow Warriors and Matadors put up crooked numbers in all seven innings in which a team scored.
 
The Matadors jumped on UH starter Itsuki Takemoto from the get-go, hitting a first-pitch homer to set the tone for a huge opening inning that made it 5-0 through one.
 
Kamana Nahaku cut into the deficit with a two-run homer in the second, but CSUN came back with four more runs in the third to blow it open at 9-2 and chase Takemoto from the game.
 
UH would come roaring back in the fifth, scoring six runs to pull within a run at 9-8. Shunsuke Sakaino delivered a two-run single against his former team to get the scoring started before Hunter Faildo came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 9-5. Ben Zeigler-Namoa delivered the big blow in the inning with an opposite field three-run homer to trim the deficit to one.
 
CSUN again would have an answer as it scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to create separation, going up 12-8 after five.
 
Hawai'i battled back with two runs in the top of the seventh to pull within a pair of runs, but the Matadors once again answered with three runs in the bottom half to cap off the scoring.
 
Zeigler-Namoa led the way with four RBIs going 2-for-5 with two runs, a double and his second homer of the season. Nahaku drove in three runs while going 2-for-2 with two runs scored and his second long ball of the year.

The 15 runs allowed by UH pitching are a season-high and the most given up since Feb. 23, 2024 vs. NC State (17). The 'Bows also lost a game in which they scored at least five runs for the first time this year while dropping a game in which they scored 10-plus runs for the first time since that game against NC State last year. 
 
The two teams continue their series Saturday at 1:30 p.m. HT.