Rich Hill was shown the door for Hawaii baseball’s series at Cal State Northridge’s Hiegert Field. His Rainbow Warriors refused to get the hint.

UH, playing without its head coach after he was ejected from Friday’s series opener for arguing a call, soldiered on for a 9-3 win over CSUN to set up a rubber match for the three-game set at 10 a.m. Hawaii time Sunday.

Hill will miss that one, too, due to an additional penalty levied by the Big West.

Assistant coaches Dave Nakama and Keith Zuniga took over for UH (19-6, 7-4 BWC) in Hill’s stead Saturday. The game’s decisive moment came courtesy of left fielder Kamana Nahaku, who hit a grand slam to dead center on an 0-2 count in the top of the seventh to make it 7-3.

Nahaku has homered in both games of the series and has three long balls on the season.

Center fielder Matthew Miura added a two-run shot of insurance in the ninth. Miura went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Jared Quandt’s sacrifice fly and Aidan Kuni’s pinch-hit double in the sixth helped UH rally from down two runs to tie it at 3.

Liam O’Brien lasted 4 1/3 innings for UH and gave way to Sebastian Gonzalez (2-0), who went two innings for the win but ran into trouble when he loaded the bases with one out in the seventh.

Sebastian Gonzalez, the nation’s leader in WHIP, came on for his fourth save of the season. Gonazlez went the rest of the way, striking out three without a walk and allowing two hits.

Cameron Calvillo went 3-for-4 for CSUN (6-16, 3-8). 

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.