Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (3-5) defeated the Florida International Golden Panthers (1-6) 5-4, on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Sansaver in the bottom of the ninth inning, in front of a crowd of 2,265 at the Les Murakami Stadium Saturday. Richard Olsen (1-0) pitched 3.0 innings of relief to get the win, while FIU's Derek DeCarlo (0-2) suffered the loss.

Matthew Inouye had a huge game, going 3-for-4 with three RBI, two doubles and the game-winning run scored. Nathan Thurber hit his first home run of the year, while Robbie Wilder went 1-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.

The Rainbows also got solid pitching out of starter Stephen Bryant, who pitched 6.0 innings, giving up five hits and no earned runs, while striking out three and walking just one. Olsen came in and gave up just one run and two hits while striking out five batters in his three innings.

The `Bows opened the scoring in the first off back-to-back doubles by Brian Finegan and Inouye, putting them up 1-0. FIU responded with a three-run fourth inning, but UH came right back with Thurber's homer and a RBI-single by Inouye, tying the game at three.

The pitching held strong for the next four innings until P.J. Lehmann hit a shot through the left side, with two outs in the top of the ninth, that scored one for the Golden Panthers. Olsen went on to strike out the following batter with two runners in scoring position, leaving Hawai`i down just one run.

Wilder opened the bottom of the ninth with a bunt-single, before advancing to second on an errant throw by the FIU shortstop. Inouye then did it again, doubling down the leftfield line, scoring Wilder to tie the game at 4-4. The Golden Panthers walked both Joshua Green and Creighton Kahoali`i, setting up the at bat for Sansaver. After fighting off the pitcher with five, two-strike, foul balls, Sansaver hit a foul ball to leftfield that FIU leftfielder Fernando Alvarez caught, sliding into the fence. Inouye tagged up and scored the game-winner while Alvarez was still down. Alvarez was able to walk away under his own power after the two medical staffs checked on him.

The two will close out their series tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium with Clary Carlsen (0-2) pitching for UH against FIU's Denny Hernandez.

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