FULLERTON, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (36-17, 16-14 Big West) is in The Big West Championship, presented by Ontario International Airport, but they have to get through No. 4 seed Hawai'i (33-19, 16-14 Big West) to enter the bracket proper. The Gauchos and Rainbow Warriors will open The Big West's first conference tournament since 1998 with a single-elimination play-in contest on Wednesday, May 21, where the loser goes home and the winner plays on. Hawai'i took the regular-season series between these two teams in Manoa back in March, but Santa Barbara swept the last time they met the Warriors on the mainland and are 24-15 against Hawai'i under Head Coach Andrew Checketts.
 
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
The winner of Wednesday's game becomes the final team in a four-team, double-elimination bracket for the rest of the weekend, mirroring the format of the NCAA Regionals. With a win on Wednesday, the Gauchos would face No. 1 seed UC Irvine in the opening round of double elimination play on Thursday, then take on either No. 2 seed Cal Poly or No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton on Friday. The Big West Championship final will take place on Saturday, May 24, with another game on Sunday, May 25 if necessary.
 
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Tickets on Sale Now — Tickets for every game of The Big West Championship are on sale now. Fans can purchase either an all-session pass, which gets them admission to every game of the tournament beginning at $72, or individual single-game tickets beginning at $15. Students from any Big West member institution can get in for just $5 with a valid student ID. Single-game tickets and all-session passes can be purchased by clicking here. Parking at Goodwin Field will be free throughout The Big West Championship.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos punched their ticket to The Big West Championship on Friday with a 10-1 win over Cal State Bakersfield but will need to do much better than their regular-season finale performance if they are going to stick around for any more of the dance; Santa Barbara dropped Saturday's game, 13-12, to the Roadrunners. The good news for the Gauchos is that their bats were hot (and their helmets worked). Isaac Kim, Jonathan Mendez, Xavier Esquer and Jack Holman all homered over the weekend, which was also filled with hit batters. Esquer was hit six times in the three games, including four on Saturday along and is now one HBP away from tying the program record, while LeTrey McCollum got on base the hard way four times in the series, including three in the finale to extend his program record on-base streak to 49 straight games. When Esquer did get to swing his bat, he made the most of hit, netting three hits in just six at-bats, including a double and that homer. Esquer was one of three Gauchos to bat .500 against the Roadrunners, with Mendez and Rowan Kelly joining him.
 
On the mound, Tyler Bremner looked as dominant as ever on Friday, matching his career high with 13 strikeouts in seven shutout innings. Jackson Flora was racking up the K's too, tallying 11 in just 5 1/3 innings of work on Thursday. Also on Thursday, Cole Tryba got his sixth save of the season in an extended relief outing. Santa Barbara's bullpen day went sideways on Saturday, but electric lefty Hudson Barrett is fully rested and available for the tournament. In 4 2/3 innings since returning from Tommy John surgery, Barrett has five strikeouts and zero walks, with a WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) of just 0.64.
 
SCOUTING THE RAINBOW WARRIORS
Hawai'i took until the very last day of the season to secure their spot alongside the Gauchos in Wednesday's game, with the Rainbow Warriors winning what was essentially an elimination game on Sunday against UC San Diego in Manoa, 13-2. The 'Bows will be the home team in Wednesday's game, but they will not have the same home-field advantage as when they play at Les Murakami Stadium. Since they hired Rich Hill four years ago, Hawai'i is 84-41 (a .672 winning percentage) in their home state and just 43-38 (.531) on the mainland. Andrew Checketts' Gauchos have a much better record against the 'Bows on the mainland too; in the 14 years since Checketts took over, Santa Barbara is 11-4 (.733) against Hawai'i on the mainland, compared to 12-11 (.522) against them in Hawaii.
 
On paper, Wednesday's game is all about pitching, a strength for both teams involved. The 'Bows' 4.31 team ERA is 22^nd in the country and second-best in The Big West behind only the Gauchos, and they are likewise second to Santa Barbara's first in hits allowed per nine innings, strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP. On top of that, the Hawai'i defense leads the conference in double plays, having turned the 15^th-most in the country. Their pitching staff is supported in large part by two rubber-armed relievers: Isaiah Magdaleno and Sebastian Gonzalez. Gonzalez has made a number of starts as well this season and leads the team with 66 1/3 innings of work, while Magdaleno has a team-high 71 strikeouts and seven saves in 53 2/3 innings over 22 relief appearances.
 
While the Gaucho offense will have to manufacture runs against that Hawai'i pitching staff which held them to just nine runs in three games in the regular season, the Santa Barbara pitching staff will have to prevent the pesky 'Bows from doing the same. Hawai'i ranks second in the conference with 75 stolen bases on the season as well as in walks, with 254. While they rank only seventh in home runs, they are only one behind both Santa Barbara and UC Irvine for the conference lead in sacrifice flies. Ben Zeigler-Namoa has nine of those sac flies to lead the conference and contribute to his team-high 46 RBIs. He is one of five Hawai'i hitters with at least 30 RBIs on the season and one of seven with at least 20.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First pitch from Cal State Fullerton's Goodwin Field is set for 12 noon on Wednesday, May 21. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.