The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors baseball team will begin its first road trip of the season with a three-game series against Long Beach State starting Friday, March 13. The games will be played at Blair Field in Long Beach, California, and mark the start of a six-game conference road stretch that also includes a series at UC Santa Barbara.
This road trip is significant as it follows a 16-game homestand for Hawai’i and features matchups with key Big West Conference rivals. The Rainbow Warriors currently hold a record of 9-7 overall and are seeking their first conference win after an 0-3 start in Big West play. The series against Long Beach State is notable as it will be the final meeting between the teams as Big West rivals.
Hawai’i trails Long Beach State in the all-time series, 26-18, but has won 10 out of 16 games since 2021. In their last meeting in April 2025, Long Beach State won the series two games to one. Head coach Rich Hill leads Hawai’i into his fifth season with a record of 138-88 at the school and an overall collegiate coaching record of 1,217-826-4 over 39 seasons.
The pitching staff has been a strong point for Hawai’i this year. The team ranks among national leaders in several categories, including being thirteenth in earned run average (ERA) at 3.02 and seventh in walks allowed per nine innings (2.71). They are also ranked in the top twenty nationally for strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP, shutouts, and walk percentage. Junior pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno has emerged as the team’s ace with a 3.70 ERA over four starts and was named Big West Pitcher of the Week after striking out twelve batters against Ball State on February 26.
Another standout is junior Hekili Robello from Hilo, who transferred from Santa Rosa Junior College. Robello holds a perfect record so far this season with three wins and leads the Big West Conference in ERA at 1.14 through four weeks.
After suffering a weekend sweep earlier this month, Hawai’i rebounded by defeating Chaminade University with a decisive score of 15-0 on Tuesday. Five pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout while Kody Watanabe led offensively with six runs batted in.
