UH baseball’s Duarte ‘grateful’ ahead of senior series

As the University of Hawaii baseball team clings to slim postseason hopes, they prepare to conclude their regular season with a pivotal three-game series against Cal State Fullerton this week.

The Rainbow Warriors, who have won five consecutive Big West Conference series and 15 of their last 17 games overall, will celebrate 14 seniors during the matchups scheduled from Thursday to Saturday.

Among the notable seniors is sixth-year catcher DallasJ Duarte, a fan favorite from Kamehameha-Hawaii, who has amassed 186 hits and 109 RBIs in 204 career games.

Duarte expressed deep gratitude for his family and community support, “I’m just grateful. A lot of people helped me get to where I’m at. Especially my family. Without them, I don’t think I’d be anywhere near where I’m at today.”

He also hopes to inspire the youth back on the Big Island, “I just want the kids back at home to see that anything is possible. You know, you can play ball anywhere. And it doesn’t matter the size; it just matters the heart and the dog in you.”

2024 Rainbow Warriors seniors

Randy Abshier

Tai Atkins

Naighel Ali’i Calderon

Nainoa Cardinez

Kyson Donahue

Dallas Duarte

Tyler Dyball

Connor Harrison

Blake Hiraki

Trevor Ichimura

Stone Miyao

Sean Rimmer

Jake Tsukada

Aaron Ujimori

The series begins with games on Thursday and Friday night at 6:35 p.m., and the senior game is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. All three games will be televised on Spectrum Sports.