Hawaii
Hawaii baseball team flexes depth in midweek rout of Hawaii Hilo
HONOLULU — Rich Hill saw an opportunity to empty his bench and took full advantage of it.
The Hawaii baseball team used all 17 of its position players — including first-time batter Itsuki Takemoto — and reached deep into its bullpen in a 13-1 midweek rout of little sibling Hawaii Hilo at Les Murakami Stadium on Tuesday night.
“It was great to see these guys compete,” Hill told Spectrum News. “Guys like Blake Hiraki, who’s meant so much to this program over four years. Getting Kamana (Nahaku) in there, getting Bronson (Rivera), and seeing our pitchers really compete. So that was awesome.”
Lineup regulars Kyson Donahue (2-for-3, three RBIs), Austin Machado (2-for-2, three runs) and Jake Tsukada (two walks, a hit by pitch and three runs) put up numbers while part-time starter Sean Rimmer belted his third homer of the season, best on the team among non-regulars.
Cory Ronan got the start and allowed Hilo’s only run, unearned, in the first inning. The first man out of the bullpen, Hunter Gotschall (1-1), went two innings with a walk to pick up the win. Six other relievers worked an inning each from there to round out the three-hitter.
UH (26-15, 9-9 Big West) has won five straight heading into this weekend’s three-game series against Big West co-leader Cal State Northridge (28-14, 14-4). The series opener is 6:35 p.m. Friday.
“I hope we have standing room only,” Hill said.
The ‘Bows are still well out of the BWC regular-season race, but with an RPI of under 90, have a chance to improve their resume for NCAA at-large consideration over the remaining 12 regular-season games.
UH improved to 4-0 against Division II competition this season, including 2-0 against Hilo. It’s closing in on its first 30-win season since 2012, which would be the first under third year coach Hill.
Takemoto, the freshman from Wakayama, Japan, entered the program billed as a two-way player but had so far appeared only as a right-handed pitcher.
That changed when he entered as a pinch hitter for Machado in the sixth inning. He struck out on four pitches against Jake Liberta in his first collegiate at-bat, but got a second chance as a designated hitter in the eighth and poked a single up the middle off of Waiakea High graduate Cody Hirata.
“He’s one of those guys in BP who’s shortened up everything,” Hill said. “He is exactly like (Shohei) Ohtani … it’s the whole batting stance and everything else. He’s got some juice in there. I’d like to get him some more reps. I think he’s got lightning in that bat; he just needs a lot of ABs.”
Hilo sophomore Tui Ickes, the older brother of UH third baseman Elijah Ickes, saw action at first base off the bench. But Elijah Ickes did not reach first with his brother manning the bag, nor did Tui Ickes reach third after drawing a walk.
UHH, led by coach Kallen Miyataki, was out of the running for the PacWest tournament and concluded its season at 19-31.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
Hawaii
Hawaii County Surf Forecast for March 04, 2026 | Big Island Now
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| East Facing | 3-5 | 4-6 | 4-6 | 5-7 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Numerous showers. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||
| Winds | East winds 5 to 10 mph. | ||||||
|
|||||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Numerous showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the upper 70s. | |||||
| Winds | East winds 10 to 15 mph. | |||||
|
||||||
| Sunrise | 6:37 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:27 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly sunny until 6 PM, then mostly cloudy. Hazy. |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||||||
| Winds | West winds around 5 mph early in the afternoon, becoming light and variable. |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Hazy. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the mid 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Light and variable winds, becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon. |
||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Sunrise | 6:41 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:31 PM HST. | ||||||||
The current moderate northwest swell will continue a gradual decline through Thursday. A small west-northwest swell will arrive on Friday and hold through the weekend, followed by a small north-northwest swell early next week. Choppy east shore surf will build to near seasonal average by Wednesday as trade winds strengthen over and east of the islands. Little change is expected along east facing shores through the weekend, followed by a possible decline early next week if winds veer southerly. Surf along south facing shores will remain small to tiny through the weekend, and some islands may an increase in choppy surf if southerly winds develop early next week.
NORTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the early morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions move in during the morning hours with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi glassy in the morning with N winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting WNW 5-10mph.
SOUTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NE winds 10-15mph. This becomes Sideshore texture/chop for the afternoon.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
Hawaii
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