Honolulu, Hawai’i
⚾ Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

The southernmost Division I venue in all of college athletics, Honolulu’s Les Murakami Stadium has been a centerpiece of the University of Hawai’i campus since it opened in 1984. Originally known as Rainbow Stadium, the park seats over 4,300 spectators, welcoming crowds which are often comprised of a mix of locals and island visitors. For more than 40 years, these grounds have bid aloha to college baseball opponents from across the nation who have made their way to Oahu to take on the Rainbow Warriors.

The venue was rechristened in 2002 in honor of Les Murakami, a longtime program coach and College Baseball Hall of Fame inductee who led the team for over thirty seasons. Murakami famously took the Rainbow Warriors to their first – and still only – College World Series appearance in 1980. The run brought them all the way to the title game, where they fell to Arizona in a 5-3 decision.

In addition to college baseball, the stadium that bears Murakami’s name has been home to a couple Hawaii Winter Baseball clubs, an entry in the Alaska Baseball League and, to conclude a quarter-century spent on Oahu, the Hawaii Islanders of Triple-A baseball also took up residence at the ballpark for two seasons in 1986 and ’87 before moving to Colorado.

The stadium is easily recognizable thanks to its large overhang which shelters most of the seating bowl from the so-called “Manoa Mist”, infrequent bouts of rain that often sprinkle the neighborhood, which is situated in a small valley and climbs the leeward slopes of the Koʻolau Range. The light rains are so common, in fact, that games are not only almost always played despite them, but many official box scores even label the gametime weather as “the Manoa we know and love.”

As by far the most far-flung venue in college baseball, Les Murakami Stadium is cherished for its one-of-a-kind environs and unique Hawaiian flare. Wind-blown trees dot the outfield, framing the peak of the Diamond Head crater in the distance, while the skyscrapers of Waikiki can be seen beyond the first base side. Just like at all Rainbow Warrior and Rainbow Wahine events, “Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī” – the official anthem of the state of Hawai’i and the kingdom that preceded it – is played after the Star-Spangled Banner. And in true Polynesian style, a horn is blown as the players take to the field, making for one of a top-notch tropical experience that can’t be found anywhere else in America.