With the sounds and smells of college baseball’s opening weekend echoing across the country, Gonzaga University baseball got their season underway with a trip to Hawaii, going 1-3 in four games against the Rainbow Warriors.

Hawaii took the victory in games one and two, with Isaiah Magdaleno besting GU’s Finbar O’Brien in a battle of ace starting pitchers on Friday — though the hosts needed a 10th-inning rally and  a walk-off run to win 3-2. Hawaii brought  that momentum into game two, jumping out to a 4-0 lead early on Saturday and holding on to win 5-3 despite a three-run GU  rally in the seventh inning.

GU picked up their first win of the season on Sunday in game three, with freshman pitcher Landon Hood striking out eight in 6.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. When Hood entered in game in the sixth inning, Hawaii had just evened the score at 2-2, erasing an early GU lead, but the freshman held the Rainbow Warriors to just two hits for the rest of the night. GU’s offense finally found a spark in the 12th inning, plating five runs to clinch a 7-2 victory.

Hood was honored for his performance with the first West Coast Conference Freshman of the Week award of 2026.

Just like the other three games, Monday’s series finale was close from start to finish. GU, powered by a pair of runs in the eighth inning, took a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but Hawaii knocked three consecutive singles to even the score with one out. With a runner on third, Garrett Gores tossed a wild pitch. scoring the runner and giving the hosts a 4-3 game four victory and 3-1 series win.

But despite a losing start to the season, associate head coach Brandon Harmon said the clubhouse is focusing on the positives from a very competitive series.

“Those are four really highly-contested games; we lost three games by a total of four runs,” Harmon said. “You can look at some things that we didn’t do to win those games, but there were also a lot of good learning experiences that will benefit us going forward.”

As expected, O’Brien and senior Justin Feld took the mound on Friday and Sunday, maintaining their roles from last season. Junior Erik Hoffberg — an All-WCC talent out of the bullpen for the Zags in 2025 — and highly touted sophomore Karsten Sweum started on Saturday and Monday.

Each starter gave up no more than three earned runs in at least four innings of work in their respective games, while Sweum was one out away from reaching six scoreless innings before Hawaii managed a pair of runs. Harmon was also complimentary of his bullpen, naming Zach Bowman, Landon Hood and Joe Thornton as relievers who had strong opening weekend showings.

Bowman and Thornton, two transfers from Spokane Falls Community College, impressed across their Division I and GU debuts. Bowman relieved O’Brien in the fifth inning of game one and pitched almost five innings of scoreless baseball before Hawaii finally broke through with their 10th-inning walk-off rally. Thornton made his debut in game four and tossed three scoreless innings, setting up Gores for his ill-fated save opportunity.

Hood’s stunning debut in game three might have been the story of the weekend for the Zags, as the freshman pitcher’s six plus scoreless innings were key to the only win of the series for GU.

The 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Arizona retired his first 12 batters and allowed only two baserunners against in 21 total at-bats. Harmon called it one of the best debuts he’s seen during his time at the program, while Hood’s teammates were similarly complimentary of the freshman’s performance.

“[Hood] was unbelievable. Being in left field and watching it was awesome,” outfielder Ryder Young said. “Everyone knew once he got his time to shine, it was gonna be over for the other team. Nothing but praise for him, he’s gonna go a long way.”

Young, a transfer from Chaffey College, was one of multiple standout bats for GU on the weekend, averaging .313 across his first four Division I games while leading GU with three RBIs. The junior left fielder knocked a pair of doubles and added an RBI single in a 3-for-4 performance at the plate on opening day.

“I was really excited about it. It was my first time playing Division I baseball,” Young said . “I was super nervous at my first at bat, but once I settled in, it went well from there.”

Noah Meffert, a redshirt senior transfer from Point Loma Nazarene, was quickly moved up to second in the batting order after his impressive production at the plate. The right fielder led the Zags in hits (eight), runs (four), total bases (ten) and slugging (.526%).

“[Young] is one of the guys we’re counting on. He’s been hitting in the middle of the order from day one and it’s the same thing with [Meffert],” Harmon said. “They’re both older guys, but it’s still their first weekend of Division I baseball and it’s an adjustment. Those guys both came in, had some huge hits and played well.”

While neither team put on an offensive clinic across the four-game series, GU out-hit Hawaii 37-30. Both Harmon and Young took positives away from the Zags’ batting across the series, attributing the lack of slugging and home runs to the park conditions.

“It shows our offense is ready to go,” Young said. “Hawaii is a really difficult place to hit in. Once we get into some better conditions and a little bit lighter air, we’re gonna go off.”

After three days back in Spokane, GU will travel to San Marcos, TX to take on Texas State in a three-game series for their second of road series to start the season. Game one will tee off at 4 p.m. on Friday and all three games will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live stats available on GoZags.com.