Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (13-6, 1-3 WAC) fell to the No. 1 Rice Owls (17-1, 4-0 WAC) 9-4 in front of crowd of 2,919 at the Les Murakami Stadium Friday. Christopher George (4-2) got the loss for the Rainbows while Jeff Niemann (5-0) picked up the win for Rice.

Rocky Russo led the way for the Rainbows, going 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored. Isaac Omura added a solo home run while Brian Bock went 1-for-4 with a RBI.

The Owls opened up a 3-0 lead scoring one run in the first and two more in the second before Russo got Hawai`i on the board when he blasted a two-run homer to center field, cutting the Owl lead to 3-2.

Rice would then add two more runs in the top of the sixth inning, extending their lead to 5-2. Omura then stepped up blasting a solo home run in the bottom of the inning, pulling UH back within two runs.

Bock then cut the deficit down to one run in the bottom of the seventh as he singled in Russo. But the Owls again answered back, scoring a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth, giving the Owls the 9-4 win.

The two teams will square off again tomorrow with Justin Cayetano (2-1) going against Rice's Phillip Humber (4-0) at 6:35 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium

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