Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team defeated Matsusaka of Japan 4-2 in front of a crowd of 1,992 in an exhibition game at the Les Murakami Stadium Wednesday. Reid Horton got the win for UH while Jyunji Nishikawa got the loss for Matsusaka. Bryan Lee struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning to pick up the save.

Kevin Gilbride led the team, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Nicholas Ponomarenko added a 1-for-3 night with a double, an RBI and two runs.

The Rainbows got on the board first, as Ponomarenko and Timothy Montgomery each drove in a run to put UH up 2-0. Drew Jackson then drove in another run in the third before Gilbride scored, extending the Rainbow lead to 4-0.

Matsusaka would score runs in the fourth and the eighth before UH would close out the 4-2 win.

Hawai`i will next face the No. 1 Rice Owls this weekend in a three-game conference series. Christopher George (4-1) will start Friday's game against Rice's Jeff Niemann (4-0) at 6:35 p.m.

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