HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i Rainbow Warrior baseball team announced its 2016 schedule on Thursday, Oct. 22, a slate which features a 35-game home schedule at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors will take on household names Michigan, Arizona, West Viginia and San Francisco, in addition to another challenging Big West Conference slate, highlighted by face-offs with NCAA tournament team UC Santa Barbara and College World Series team Cal State Fullerton.
The ‘Bows will play 53 games overall, 35 in the friendly confines of Les Murakami Stadium, where they ranked 18th in the nation in attendance last season and first in the west region, with an outstanding group of 3,265 UH fans on average per game.
UH will reignite a 128-game all-time series for the first time since 2008, traveling to the Big Island for the season opener at UH-Hilo. The ’Bows kick off the home slate hosting New Mexico, meeting the Lobos for the first time since 1999.
After traveling to San Francisco, UH will launch into a 19-game home stand which includes series against Big 12 foe West Virginia, 2015 NCAA Tournament team Michigan, former Western Athletic Conference opponent Chicago State and Santa Clara from the West Coast Conference, then opening up Big West Conference play at home versus UC Irvine.
In Big West play this season, the Rainbow Warriors will also face Cal Poly, Long Beach State and UC Riverside at home, while meeting UC Davis, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton on the road. Between the CSUN and UCSB series, UH will remain on the mainland and match up with Loyola Marymount in the season’s lone midweek contest.
After wrapping up the UC Riverside series and commencement weekend, the Rainbow Warriors will close out the regular season at home with Pac 12 opponent Arizona in a three-game set.
“As always, we pride ourselves on playing as challenging of a non-conference schedule as possible, to prepare for the rigors of the Big West Conference,” head coach Mike Trapasso said. “This year is no different, with teams like Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia and New Mexico. We look forward to playing this great schedule in front of the best fans in college baseball.”
The 2016 UH Alumni Game is slated for Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1:00 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.
