HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team dropped its regular-season finale to CSUN, 8-1, on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium. Despite the defeat, the Rainbow Warriors (27-22, 16-14 Big West) have successfully extended their season and will be playing in next week's Big West postseason tournament.
Playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,354 on Senior Night, the Rainbow Warriors celebrated their 17 departing seniors following the contest. With their postseason ticket already punched earlier in the week, Hawai'i now shifts its focus to the conference tournament in Irvine, Calif., where they will compete for a championship and an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
In the regular-season finale, CSUN (25-28, 12-18 Big West) controlled the pace behind a complete-game performance from starting pitcher Adam Christopher. Christopher (4-3) limited the Hawai'i offense to just one run on six hits while striking out 12 batters on 118 pitches over nine full innings of work.
The Rainbow Warriors manufactured their lone offensive breakthrough in the bottom of the fifth inning. After shortstop
Taylor Takata drew a walk and promptly stole second base,
Gabe Wright eventually delivered a clutch RBI single to shortstop to bring Takata home. Takata provided the brightest spot for the Hawai'i offense, finishing a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate on his Senior Night with a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored.
The Rainbow Warriors will head into the Big West postseason at the No. 4-seed in next week's tournament. UH will play in a single-elimination game Wednesday at 3 p.m. HT in Irvine, Calif.
