Hawaii squeezes by Gonzaga in extras for dramatic Opening Day win

HONOLULU – Magic in Mānoa: the Sequel.

The University of Hawai’i baseball team opened the 2026 season in dramatic fashion on Friday night, tallying a walk-off win on Opening Day for the second straight year as they snuck past Gonzaga (0-1) inside Les Murakami Stadium in 10 innings, 3-2.

“The Mānoa Magic is real, our fans are the best in the country, and I think it does intimidate everybody,” said Hawai’i head coach Rich Hill following the extra-inning win.

Just a year after collecting nine victories with a go-ahead run coming in the ninth inning or later, shortstop Elijah Ickes provided another memorable moment in the bottom of the 10th for the masters of the clutch to begin the 2026 campaign.

With two runners on, nobody out and Ickes entering the at-bat 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, the junior dropped a sacrifice bunt down the third base line that Zags third baseman Mikey Bell threw into left field. The errant throw allowed Kody Watanabe to score the winning run from second base and made the 3,136 fans in attendance erupt in excitement in the process.

Watanabe, a graduate transfer from the University of San Francisco who began his career with the Rainbow Warriors in 2022, got the start at second base and went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double and the game-winning run scored in his return to UH colors.

Last season’s Opening Day hero Draven Nushida started in left field for Hawai’i and went 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of singles on a night where UH totaled six hits as a team. The senior from Kailua did commit the lone error of the evening for the Rainbow Warriors, misplaying a twirling fly ball to begin the third inning defensively that ultimately did not result in any runs allowed.

Junior right-handed pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno got the nod on the bump for UH, going a career-high 6.0 innings and allowing only one run on three hits and four walks, striking out six while extending himself for 102 pitches and earning a no-decision in his first start of the 2026 season. Texas State transfer right-handed pitcher John Alkire II earned the win in relief for the Rainbow Warriors, giving Rich Hill’s squad 2.1 innings of scoreless work out of the bullpen in his UH debut.

Gonzaga reliever Zach Bowman was tagged with the bad-luck loss for the Bulldogs after going 4.2 innings in relief and allowing just the one unearned run after giving up three total hits and striking out seven UH batters. Gonzaga starting pitcher and preseason All-WCC selection Finbar O’Brien got a no-decision in his 2026 debut, going 4.1 innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out four.

Hawai’i (1-0) struck first with the help of error by Gonzaga left fielder Ryder Young, who couldn’t secure Josh Martin’s pop fly behind the third base bag and allowed a hustling Kamana Nahaku to start the scoring in the bottom of the second inning.

Young helped the Bulldogs bite back two innings later, ripping a double to right field that set up runners on second and third with only one out in the top of the fourth inning. Designated hitter Landon White tapped a run-scoring groundout to Ickes at short the very next pitch, tying the game at one just over a third of the way through the action.

Watanabe put the Rainbow Warriors right back in position to answer a couple of innings later, roping a one-out double down the right field line himself to set up UH with a pair of runners in scoring position and only one down in the bottom half of the fifth.

Ben Zeigler-Namoa, granted an extra year of eligibility after his second-team All-Big West season in 2025, delivered for UH with an RBI groundout to second base that scored Tate Shimao and gave the hosts a 2-1 lead heading into the sixth.

Magdaleno came back out to the bump despite already tossing 88 pitches over the initial five frames, quickly retiring the first two Gonzaga batters before Ryder Young smoked a two-out double into the left-center gap. Flirting with 100 pitches in his first outing of the year, the junior confidently nodded towards Hill in the dugout as if to tell the fifth-year Hawaii head man to leave him in to close the inning.

“It’s awesome when that happens,” Hill said of Magdaleno’s fiery desire to get the final out of the sixth. “He wanted it and made some good pitches.”

Pima CC transfer Tsubasa Tomii found a mixed bag in relief for the Rainbow Warriors, twirling a 1-2-3 gem of a seventh inning before allowing a two-out rally in the top of the eighth that tied the game at two and chased him from the game before finishing the frame.

Alkire II extinguished the fire in the top of the eighth, getting Landon White to pop out to second base to end the Gonzaga threat.

Both sides went down in order in the ninth inning, sending an Opening Day game to extra innings for the Rainbow Warriors for the second time in the last three seasons. Alkire II continued his excellence in his UH debut, quickly working through the top half of the 10th despite a two-out walk as he picked off Brandon Cabrera from first base to keep the batters he faced to the minimum possible.

Hawai’i wasted no time taking advantage of the lanky right-hander’s heroics on the mound, beginning the bottom half of the 10th with back-to-back singles from Watanabe and Ben Zeigler-Namoa to put the winning run 180 feet away with nobody out.

After getting the sign from Hill, Elijah Ickes guided a first-pitch bunt down the third base line with hopes of advancing both runners into scoring position. The shortstop ended up being the hero instead as Mikey Bell’s throw went wide of the bag and into left field, allowing Watanabe to get up and sprint towards home to win it for the Rainbow Warriors.

“That wasn’t the plan, what happened,” Hill said of chaotic final 20 seconds of the night. “But it worked out in our favor.”

Ickes said his main focus was to just do his job in that moment on a night where he had struggled offensively. After getting a pair of quick putouts and a pickoff in the top half of the 10th, the KS-Kapālama product said the team felt the momentum starting to shift back in UH’s favor.

“Honestly, it’s hard to describe,” said Ickes when talking about the Mānoa Magic. “Kody got on, Ben did his job and got on and I stepped to the plate and … [did] what needed to be done.”

Hawai’i and Gonzaga will return to the Les Murakami Stadium diamond on Saturday for the second of the four-game season-opening series with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. HT. Gonzaga RHP Erik Hoffberg is projected to get the start on the bump for the visitors while Hawai’i will send RHP Hekili Robello to the mound to make his Rainbow Warrior debut.