HONOLULU — The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (14-2, 3-0 Big West) is set for its biggest road series of the season this weekend, traveling to Les Murakami Stadium for a three-game set against an impressive Hawai'i (12-4, 1-2 Big West) squad. The Rainbow Warriors come into the weekend all the way up at No. 22 in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), even after losing two out of three at UC Riverside last weekend. This weekend will be the Gauchos' final trip to Hawai'i as the Warriors' conference-mates; Hawai'i will come to Santa Barbara in 2026 before leaving for the Mountain West following next season.

LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos come into the weekend on a five-game winning streak, having dispatched Hawai'i Head Coach Rich Hill's former team, the University of San Diego, 8-4, Tuesday evening. Santa Barbara was one of two teams to sweep their first series of Big West play last weekend, with LeTrey McCollum's walk-off home run to complete the cycle punctuating a gritty third straight win against CSUN. The Gauchos had walked off the Matadors, 4-3, in 13 innings on Friday, then used a late surge to secure an 11-9 win on Saturday. Along with McCollum's historic cycle — the first by a Gaucho in 28 years and only the fourth in program history — Tyler Bremner recorded the 200^th strikeout of his career, becoming the 10^th Gaucho pitcher to ever hit the milestone, and Isaac Kim smacked a pair of home runs.
 
SCOUTING THE RAINBOW WARRIORS
At the start of last weekend, Hawai'i and UC Santa Barbara had identical 10-2 records, as the Rainbow Warriors had been enjoying a remarkable start to their season with a four-game sweep of Marshall and four-game series wins against Wichita State and Northeastern, all at home. They boat-raced UC Riverside in their Big West opener, 17-5, but then slowed up for the rest of the weekend, falling 4-3 in 13 innings on Saturday and 7-4 in nine on Sunday. They did get back in the win column on Tuesday night against Chaminade, 9-4.
 
Like the Gauchos, Hawai'i's strength is its pitching. The Warriors rank 33^rd nationally with a 3.58 team ERA, the Gauchos 15^th with a 3.20. Hawai'i ranks 26^th nationally in team WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) at 1.23, the Gauchos fourth at 1.03. The Warriors are 53^rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio, at 2.46, the Gauchos are eighth at 3.72. Individually, Hawai'i has the single statistically better pitcher in their Saturday starter, Liam O'Brien. O'Brien is one of four qualified Division I pitchers yet to allow an earned run this season, and his 1.69 hits allowed per nine innings leads all D-I arms. He got roughed up by his standards at UC Riverside on Sunday, allowing three hits over four innings and walking five, though he did still strike out six.
 
Offensively, the Gauchos and Warriors have gotten similar outcomes this season, with Santa Barbara averaging 7.3 runs per game and Hawai'i 6.9, though they have done it in different ways. Whereas the Gaucho offense has made the most of big swings, ranking 35^th nationally with 23 home runs and 18^th nationally with 41 doubles, the Rainbow Warrior offense has used speed on the basepaths, ranking 36^th nationally with 36 stolen bases. Hawai'i has only hit five home runs all year, from five different hitters. Meanwhile, seven different Rainbow Warriors have multiple steals, with Xaige Lancaster a perfect 7-of-7 to lead the team. Veteran Matthew Miura and CSUN transfer Shunsuke Sakaino each have six. Sakaino also leads the team with a .414 batting average and 1.122 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. The only Warrior with more RBIs than him is Ben Zeigler-Namoa, with 14 to Sakaino's 13.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First pitch times are set for 9:35 p.m. Pacific on Friday and Saturday and 4:05 p.m. Pacific on Sunday from Les Murakami Stadium. There will not be ESPN+ broadcasts of any of the games, but fans can listen to an audio only broadcast for free at ucsbgauchos.com/BSBRadio. Live stats will also be available at ucsbgauchos.com/BSBLiveStats.