Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (3-2) used a late surge, scoring a total of eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings, to defeat the Pacific Tigers (5-3) 9-3 in front of a crowd of 2,739 at the Les Murakami Stadium Thursday. Steven Wright gave up just one hit in 2.1 innings of relief to pick up the victory. Brett Manning got the loss for UOP.

Esteban Lopez went 3-for-3 with two runs, a double and a RBI. Joseph Spiers came up big, going 3-for-5 with two RBI, two runs and a stolen base. Isaac Omura also played well, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double.

Pacific took an early lead, as Jerin Harper drove in a run in the first. Hawai`i tied it up in the third on a RBI-single by Spiers, before UOP came up with two more runs in the fourth to hold a 3-1 lead.

The Tigers kept that lead all the way until the bottom of the seventh, as Lopez doubled in Daniel Magana to cut it to 3-2. After another single by Spiers and a walk by Gregory Kish loaded the bases, Omura came up with a big single up the middle to drive in two runs and give UH the 4-3 advantage.

In the mean time, Wright caught fire, striking out the side in the top of the eighth. The Rainbow bats kept it going in the bottom of the inning, scoring five insurance runs to make it 9-3.

Wright would pick up one more strikeout in the top of the ninth before forcing a couple of infield outs to hold on to the win.

The Rainbows and Tigers will face off again tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium as Stephen Bryant goes up against Iolani graduate Tyler McCready of Pacific.

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