Baseball schedule includes return of the Ducks

Hawaii's Michael Blake scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 3-2 win over Oregon in the 2011 season opener. / Photo by George F. Lee, Star-Advertiser.

The 2019 University of Hawaii baseball schedule was released on Tuesday with one marquee series returning to Les Murakami Stadium after a four-year absence.

UH and Oregon will renew a series that began the season for five consecutive years from 2011 to 2015. The Ducks visited the islands six consecutive seasons overall before the teams took a three-year hiatus in 2016.

The UH-Oregon series will be March 7-10 with three night games before a Sunday day game.

The Ducks were a hot ticket when they came to Hawaii. Four of the five season openers the teams played from 2011-15 were sold out, including a record-high attendance of 4,061 for the 2015 opener.

Attendance for UH home openers have dropped considerably since — 2,446 (New Mexico, 2016), 2,189 (N.C. State, 2017), 1,712 (Air Force, 2018).

Oregon went 17-7 against Hawaii during its six-year run in the islands and the teams played some memorable games.

UH’s Breland Almadova hit a walk-off, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Ducks 11-10 in 2011. That was a night after UH scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Collin Bennett RBI double and a passed ball to win 3-2.

Three of the four games in that series were decided by one run, including a 4-3 Ducks win in the Monday finale that was shortened to eight innings so Oregon could make its flight out of town.


Oregon pulled out a 3-2 win in 12 innings in 2012 when UH loaded the bases in the bottom of the 12th before a strikeout ended it.

UH lost another one-run game to the Ducks in 2013 when it left the tying run on third in the bottom of the ninth. The teams played two more one-run games in 2014 and 2015 was the year Oregon scored three runs in the ninth inning in the series finale to win 3-2 after a runner was called safe in a rundown between third and home when UH reliever Josh Pigg said he “definitely tagged him.”

Hawaii reliever Josh Pigg shows the umpire his glove after thinking he made the tag on Oregon’s Phil Craig-St. Louis in the bottom of the ninth inning. Craig-St. Louis was ruled safe and the Ducks scored three in the ninth to win 3-2. / Star-Advertiser file photo.

George Horton will begin his 11th season with the Ducks in 2019. The longtime head coach, who won a national title at Cal State Fullerton, has taken the Ducks to the postseason in four of the last seven seasons. In 2012, the Ducks finished one win short of the College World Series.

In his 10 seasons, Horton has had 11 players selected in the first five rounds of the MLB Draft.

Hawaii will open the year with 20 straight home games and will play Saturday doubleheaders the first two weekends (against Portland and Iowa).


UH’s only nonconference road trip is the week before the start of Big West play, when the ‘Bows travel to Ohio State. The Buckeyes are the only nonconference opponent on the schedule to make the NCAA tournament last season.

UH will then play nine of its first 12 Big West games at home. The final three home games are against UC Santa Barbara May 17-19 before the season ends at Long Beach State May 23-25.

2019 UH Baseball Schedule

Record: 20-30 overall, 8-16 Big West
DATEOPPONENTLOCATIONTIME/RESULT
2/9/2019AlumniLMSW, 20-5
2/15/2019PortlandLMSL, 4-10, 10 inn.
2/16/2019PortlandLMSL, 4-7
2/16/2019PortlandLMSW, 9-5
2/17/2019PortlandLMSL, 0-4
2/22/2019IowaLMSW, 7-1
2/23/2019IowaLMSL, 8-10
2/23/2019IowaLMSL, 4-6
2/24/2019IowaLMSW, 8-7, 10 inn.
3/1/2019LongwoodLMSW, 5-4
3/2/2019LongwoodLMSW, 9-1
3/3/2019LongwoodLMSW, 8-4
3/5/2019LongwoodLMSW, 9-3
3/7/2019OregonLMSW, 7-6
3/8/2019OregonLMSL, 1-3
3/9/2019OregonLMSL, 3-4
3/10/2019OregonLMSL, 7-8
3/14/2019CSU BakersfieldLMSW, 7-4
3/15/2019CSU BakersfieldLMSL, 4-8
3/16/2019CSU BakersfieldLMSL, 4-5
3/17/2019CSU BakersfieldLMSL, 0-2
3/21/2019at Ohio StateColumbus, OhioL, 4-6
3/22/2019at Ohio StateColumbus, OhioL, 5-6
3/23/2019at Ohio StateColumbus, OhioL, 5-7
3/24/2019at Ohio StateColumbus, OhioW, 15-3
3/29/2019UC Irvine*LMSW, 10-2
3/30/2019UC Irvine*LMSL, 5-8
3/31/2019UC Irvine*LMSL, 0-4
4/5/2019UC Davis*LMSW, 9-5
4/6/2019UC Davis*LMSL, 3-6
4/7/2019UC Davis*LMSW, 13-6
4/12/2019at UC Riverside*Riverside, Calif.L, 5-16
4/13/2019at UC Riverside*Riverside, Calif.W, 15-3
4/14/2019at UC Riverside*Riverside, Calif.L, 3-4
4/18/2019Cal State Fullerton*LMSL, 2-5
4/19/2019Cal State Fullerton*LMSW, 8-6
4/20/2019Cal State Fullerton*LMSW, 3-1
4/24/2018at San DiegoSan Diego, Calif.W, 5-2
4/26/2019at Cal State Northridge*Northridge, Calif.W, 4-3
4/27/2019at Cal State Northridge*Northridge, Calif.L, 2-10
4/28/2019at Cal State Northridge*Northridge, Calif.L, 3-6
4/30/2019at Cal BaptistRiverside, Calif.W, 6-2
5/3/2019at Cal Poly *San Luis Obispo, Calif.L, 4-12
5/4/2019at Cal Poly*San Luis Obispo, Calif.L, 2-3
5/5/2019at Cal Poly*San Luis Obispo, Calif.W, 4-1
5/17/2019UC Santa Barbara*LMSL, 2-8
5/18/2019UC Santa Barbara*LMSL, 1-11
5/19/2019UC Santa Barbara*LMSL, 3-6, 11 inn.
5/23/2019at Long Beach State*Long Beach, Calif.L, 0-4
5/24/2019at Long Beach State*Long Beach, Calif.L, 4-5
5/25/2019at Long Beach State*Long Beach, Calif.L, 4-9
Home games played at Les Murakami Stadium
All times Hawaii time; schedule subject to change
*—Big West Conference game

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