Box Score

HONOLULU - Despite a plethora of injuries over the past couple of weeks, the University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (29-16, 12-8 WAC) defeated the third-ranked Rice Owls (34-9, 16-3) 6-5 on a bases-loaded walk by Joshua Green in the bottom of the ninth inning. The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 4,518, with 206 standing room-only tickets sold, the first sellout for the Rainbows since 1998. Guy McDowell (3-1) pitched 1.2 innings of hitless ball to get the win just one night after picking up the save. Adam Hale (1-2) took the loss for Rice.

Matthew Inouye carried the big stick for the 'Bows, going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Andrew Sansaver added a 2-for-3 game with two runs, while Nathan Thurber went 2-for-4 with a double.

Brian Finegan set the tone, blasting a lead-off home run to centerfield to put UH up 1-0 in the first. The Owls then scored three runs in the top of the third to go up 3-1, while Rice starter Wade Townsend retired the following nine batters, seven by strikeout, to hold the 'Bows at bay in the first three innings.

But Hawai`i finally got to Townsend again in the fourth as Inouye hit a two-run home run to centerfield, scoring Sansaver, to tie it up at three. Jaziel Mendoza followed up the homer with a double down the right line, before Daniel Magana brought him home on a ground-out, giving UH a 4-3 advantage.

The Owls tied it back up at four in the top of the fifth on a Adam Rodgers RBI-single to leftfield. But the Rainbows again had an answer as Inouye again drove in Sansaver in the bottom of the fifth, making it 5-4.

The score would stay there until the top of the eighth, when the Owls were able to tie it up again when McDowell hit Adam Morris with the bases loaded. The UH defense avoided any further damage with a 4-2-5 double play getting the two lead runners with the bases loaded to end the inning.

That set the stage for the ninth. McDowell took care of Rice in the top of the inning before Hale came in as the Rice closer. The inning started with two walks by Isaac Omura and Gregory Kish, before Magana reachd on an error by the catcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt. After a flyout, Green came in and forced a full count before taking ball four, outside, to score pinch runner Andrew Castillo for the game-winner.

The win gives Hawai`i their first three-game winning streak against the Owls and ends a 27-series WAC winning streak by Rice, dating back to 2001.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium as Clary Carlsen (6-5) looks to lead UH to their first-ever sweep of the Owls against Rice's Josh Baker (6-2).

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