’Bows focused as Cal State Northridge arrives for series

For tonight’s baseball game at Les Murakami Stadium, it will not be a time to look back, although Hawaii pitching legend Derek Tatsuno will be signing autographs during a pregame session.

It will not be a time to bid aloha, although UH’s Ben Zeigler-Namoa will be participating in the final home series of his four-season, 195-game career as a Rainbow Warrior. UH’s senior ceremony will follow Friday night’s game.

And it will not be a time to focus on the magnitude of the three-game series, although the ’Bows need to beat Cal State Northridge just once to clinch a berth in next week’s five-team Big West Tournament in Irvine, Calif.

The ’Bows and Cal State Fullerton enter the final week of the regular season tied for fourth at 14-13. UC Davis is 11⁄2 games back, at 14-16, but already has completed its Big West schedule. UC Irvine is seventh at 12-15 and CSUN is 11-16. The ’Bows hold the tiebreaker over CSUF and UCI.

“We’re still playing meaningful games,” said CSUN coach Eddie Cornejo, whose Matadors need to sweep UH to keep alive any postseason prayers.

During a team meeting on Tuesday, UH coach Rich Hill referenced the “dangling carrot in front of us” and Tiger Woods’ 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open.

“It’s not about the dangling carrot,” Hill said. “It’s not about the putt going in. It’s about the process it takes for that putt to go in. It’s the process that it takes to eat that golden carrot. That’s been the message from day one just because there’s consequence attached to a win or a loss. It shouldn’t matter at all. It’s pretty much a distraction. If it can motivate you, if it can get those juices flowing a little bit, that’s a good thing. If it causes anxiety, which it does to some guys, and fear-based, then that’s a bad thing.”

For starters, the UH coaches debated whether Isaiah Magdaleno, the defending Big West Pitcher of the Week, will throw the first pitch tonight. Magdaleno has allowed one run while striking out 25 the past two Fridays. With this series pushed up two days because of UH’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, Hill weighed using Magdaleno five days after his previous start or keeping him in his usual Friday slot. Hill hasn’t announced his decision yet. Pitching Magdaleno today would give him a full week’s rest for next week’s tournament opener. This season, UH opened two series on a Thursday. In the first, Magdaleno yielded five earned runs in five innings against Wichita State. In the second, Grant Garman started against UC San Diego, with Magdaleno keeping his usual Friday start.

There are few questions about the top of the ’Bows’ batting order. Center fielder Kamana Nahaku is batting .216 but has reached base on a team-high 31 walks and 16 hit by pitches. The past 25 games, third baseman Tate Shimao is hitting .367 and Zeigler-Namoa is batting .336. And freshman Mana Lau Kong is 18-for-48 (.375) the past 14 games.