The Hawaii baseball team can still finish in a tie for first place in the Big West against postseason-eligible teams.

But its postseason chances are done.

The Rainbow Warriors dropped the final game of the series against Cal State Northridge at Matador Field in Northridge, Calif., 8-6, on Sunday to fall to 15-12 in Big West Conference play with three games remaining.

With league-leading UC Santa Barbara losing to Cal Poly on Sunday to fall into a tie with Cal State Fullerton at 18-9, Hawaii is three back with three to play as it gets set to host the Gauchos for the final series of the season beginning Thursday.

UC San Diego, which finished conference play a week early at 21-9, is in the third season of a four-year transition from Division II to Division I and is ineligible to compete in the postseason.

CSUN, which improved to 31-17 overall and 17-10 in conference play, is one game back and UC Irvine sits at 16-11, two back of the Titans and Gauchos.

None of those teams play each other in the final week of the season, leaving the unlikely scenario of any possibility up to a five-way tie in play. Hawaii doesn’t seem to factor in to any of the tie-breaking scenarios involving any combination of the other teams, however.

The Rainbows would be in a much better position but were outscored 19-8 over the final two games against the Matadors to lose the series.

Jakob Simons hit a three-run homer after a Hawaii error kept the first inning going and Ali Camarillo homered and drove in three runs to lead CSUN.

Stone Miyao and Jacob Igawa had two hits and drove in two runs each to lead the UH offense.

Harrison Bodendorf (5-2) allowed four unearned runs on four hits in 12⁄3 innings to take the loss for UH, which has lost its last four road series.

CSUN never trailed in the game after putting up four runs in the bottom of the first inning.

The Matadors had runners at second and third with two outs when UH third baseman Zach Storbakken misplayed a hard-hit grounder to his left that allowed the first run to score on an error.

Camarillo, who also doubled and was hit by a pitch, followed with a three-run homer to the opposite field to make it 4-0.

UH scratched across a run in the third inning when Sean Rimmer led off with a single and scored on Miyao’s sacrifice fly to left.

Camarillo got the run right back leading off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to left. Mason Le added a two-out RBI single on an 0-2 pitch to make it a 6-1 game.

Matt Wong led off the fourth inning with a solo homer of his own to make it a 6-2 ballgame.

UH trailed 8-2 in the seventh inning when it cut the deficit lead in half on an RBI double by Miyao and Jacob Igawa’s two-run single.

Hawaii stranded runners at the corners to end the seventh but mounted another charge in the ninth inning.

The ‘Bows loaded the bases on a DallasJ Duarte walk and singles by Miyao and Igawa to put the tying run on first with nobody out.

CSUN right-hander Joshua Romero got Wong to foul out to first for the first out. Kyson Donahue struck out swinging for the second out, but UH scored a run when catcher Graysen Tarlow tried to pick off a runner at second and the ball got away from the fielder.

Ben Zeigler-Namoa ended the game with a groundout to second after getting ahead in the count.

UH used four pitchers, with Alex Giroux replacing Bodendorf with two outs in the second inning.

Giroux allowed two runs on four hits in 22⁄3 innings and Connor Harrison gave up two runs on four hits in three innings.

Tyler Dyball recorded the final two outs for UH.