Hawaii baseball blanked again in series sweep at UC Irvine

Stymied Hawaii baseball team blanked again in series sweep at UC Irvine

BY Brian McInnis Irvine

PUBLISHED 3:15 AM ET Apr. 20, 2025 PUBLISHED 3:15 AM EDT Apr. 20, 2025

The Hawaii baseball team saw double in the worst way against No. 13 UC Irvine this weekend.

Anteaters pitcher Ryder Brooks two-hit the Rainbow Warriors in a 5-0 UCI win at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif., on Saturday, replicating teammate Trevor Hansen’s complete game feat from Friday.

UH (25-13, 10-11 Big West) dropped five of six conference games on its two-week road trip against the top two teams in the league, Cal Poly and UCI (28-9, 16-2).

Rich Hill’s group embarked on the trip in third place and achieved only midweek nonconference wins over Santa Clara and USC, and an extra-inning comeback win at Cal Poly. UH stands in sixth, outside the cut line for the inaugural five-team Big West tournament, with three conference series remaining.

Before Hansen went the distance in the middle game of the series, UCI had not had a complete game from a pitcher since 2021.

Brooks (5-2), like Hansen, fanned 10 ‘Bows. It was the third time in UCI history that two players posted consecutive complete games.

UC Irvine just went back-to-back complete game shutouts against Hawaii

2 pitchers, 18ip, 20k, 0 runs in the last 24 hours pic.twitter.com/WJcbs83vu0
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) April 19, 2025

He opened the game by hitting Shunsuke Sakaino with a pitch, but got a double play off the bat of Matthew Miura to get out of the inning. Sakaino reached on an error to lead off the fourth but another double play meant he still faced the minimum.

Kedren Kinzie broke up Brooks’ no-hitter with two out in the fifth inning. Itsuki Takemoto had a single to center in the seventh.

Miura walked and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice in the ninth. He was the only UH batter to get past first; no UH players got to second on Friday.

UH managed only one run for the three-game series. It was the first time since facing Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly in 2018 that it had been shut out in consecutive games.

Chase Call homered in the third and Blake Penso went deep in the fourth off Cooper Walls (2-3). Isaiah Magdaleno threw the last 4 2/3 innings.

UH must try to recover at home against Cal State Bakersfield (15-26, 7-11) on Friday. First, UH opens an eight-game homestand against Chaminade (17-28) on Tuesday at Les Murakami Stadium.

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