HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team came up short for the first time in 2026, falling 7-2 in 12 innings Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.
Locked in a 2-2 game heading into the 12th inning, the Bulldogs broke out for five runs in the frame to hand UH its first loss of the year. A Noah Meffert RBI double gave the Zags the lead and a hit by pitch and sacrifice fly stretched the lead to 5-2. Gonzaga plated two more runs in the inning to break things wide open and cap off the scoring.
The Bulldogs got the scoring started in the third inning with a pair of runs. After a one-out double, Bo Shinkle delivered an RBI single to make it 1-0 before coming around to score on a Tommy Eisenstat two-out base hit to double the Gonzaga lead.
The Rainbow Warriors bats finally broke through in the sixth inning with two runs to tie it up.
Elijah Ickes singled and
Evan Rolbiecki doubled to lead off the frame, and Ickes scored on a
Tino Bethancourt groundout to make it 2-1.
Jake Redding then came up and continued his hot weekend when he laced a run-scoring double into the right field corner to make it 2-2.
Redding continued his hot start at the plate in his first weekend in a UH uniform, going 2-for-5 with the RBI double. He leads the team batting .417 with three doubles and three RBIs.
True freshman
Brody Martin-Grudzielanek made his first career start on the mound and went four innings with three strikeouts while allowing just one earned run on four hits.
Jack Berg,
Tsubasa Tomii and
John Alkire II followed out of the bullpen and combined to shut out the Bulldogs over the next five innings while allowing just three hits.
The loss was just UH's second in its last 16 Sunday home games dating back to 2024. The only other time the 'Bows lost in Les Murakami Stadium on a Sunday in that span was to Long Beach State on Apr. 6, 2025. Hawai'i is still outscoring its opponents 131-43 in its last 16 Sunday home games.
The Rainbow Warriors will have a chance to go for the series victory in the finale with Gonzaga on Monday at 1:05 p.m
