On Sunday, the University of Hawaii baseball team won its 11th game in a row, which got me thinking about winning streaks in general.

UH baseball has many long winning streaks in its storied history. Its most noteworthy run without a loss went 12 games. It came in 1980 (Hawaii’s first year in a conference) and most of it was in the postseason, with two wins over BYU in the WAC Championship Series, three more at the NCAA Central Regional, and three at the College World Series.

It started with an incredible comeback — even by college baseball standards, where they seem to happen most often. It was the second game of a doubleheader, May 8 at Rainbow Stadium (what is now Les Murakami Stadium and known to some then as UH Stadium).

New Mexico, which still had a slim chance of catching Hawaii for the WAC Southern Division championship, beat the ’Bows 4-1 in the first game, and led 10-0 four innings into the nightcap.

It was a good thing for UH that the second game was not abbreviated to seven innings. Hawaii came back to win 11-10, with Greg Oniate’s pinch-hit single in the ninth driving in Ricki Bass and Wade Mauricio for the tying and winning runs.

“Oh my gosh. The Alan Lane game,” said Sam Kakazu, another relief pitcher on that 1980 team.

Lane pitched 51⁄3 scoreless innings, allowing the ’Bows to chip away at the lead.

“That’s by far my most memorable game, because we came back from 10-0, and it was to clinch our first-ever conference title,” said KHON newscaster Howard Dashefsky, who was a UH sophomore first baseman in 1980.

After finishing the regular season with three more home wins against the Lobos and then the two WAC championship games against BYU, Hawaii beat Texas-Pan American 8-4, LaTech 2-1, and host Texas 7-3, in the NCAA Central Regional.

Then it was on to Omaha, Neb., and the College World Series.

“We didn’t go home first, so we ran out of two things we needed most — rice and cash,” Dashefsky said. “But we didn’t run out of gas.”

Wins 10, 11 and 12 of the streak were at the CWS … over Florida State 7-6, St. John’s 7-6, and Miami 9-3, putting Hawaii within one win of the national championship.

Then, an old nemesis siphoned the ’Bows’ tank.

“When Arizona lost its first game, it was a relief,” Kakazu said.

In 1979 — the year before, when Derek Tatsuno was 20-3 on the mound — Hawaii went 69-15. But the host Wildcats beat the Rainbows twice to knock them out of the regionals.

Arizona did it again in ’80, but this time it was at the College World Series.

“Arizona, you gotta give ’em credit, they came back from the losers’ bracket,” Kakazu said. “On the field, they were a class act. But their fans, they had a group called the Wild Bunch, who played kazoos behind the visiting team’s dugout, before they got moved.”

All streaks eventually come to an end. And when this one did, with a 5-4 loss to Arizona on June 4, the ’Bows still had one more chance the next day. But the Wildcats prevailed again, 5-3, to win the double-elimination tournament and the College World Series.

The 2024 Rainbows (32-15 overall, 15-9 Big West) put their 11-win streak on the line at Long Beach State in the first of a three-game series on Friday. Then UH finishes with a three-game set at home against Cal State Fullerton next week. Even if Hawaii runs its streak to 17 the numbers probably don’t add up for an NCAA Regional bid.

“Sadly, there’s no (Big West) tournament (which starts next year),” Dashefsky said. “Say they win four of their last six. You’d like to think they’d get an at-large bid. You can’t say they’re not one of the best 64 teams in the country.”

The Rainbows are fourth in the conference, and — oddly enough — traditional powers Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton are not among the teams ahead of them that UH could pass if they win out.

“This is a great run these guys are on, but some fans are so depressed they’re peaking at this time,” Kakazu said. “If they keep winning, let’s hope (selection committee members) feel Hawaii would be a good addition, and people would want to see their style of play. How you are playing at the end should count for something.”