Box Score

HONOLULU - Luis Avila hit a walk-off single to right field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, as the University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (7-4) defeated the Washington State Cougars (6-7) 10-9 in front of a crowd of 2,548 at the Les Murakami Stadium Saturday night. Darrell Fisherbaugh pitched 2.2 hitless innings in relief with five strikeouts and just one walk to get the win. Nick Cebula (1-2) took the loss for Washington State.

Isaac Omura continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-3 with a double and two runs before going down with a sprained left knee in the fifth inning. Joseph Spiers ran his hitting streak to 11 games, going 2-for-3 with two RBI, a triple, two runs and three walks. Daniel Magana added a 2-for-4 game with two runs, a double and two RBI while Avila finished the game 2-for-6 with a run, a double and one RBI. Ryan Asato also came up at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a run and one RBI.

Washington State again got on the board first, as a two-run homer in the top of the first and RBI-triple in the second put the Cougars up 3-0. Hawai`i then came back with two runs in the bottom of the second, driven in by Asato and Jose Castaneda, cutting the deficit to one run.

The Rainbows got their big inning in the third. Esteban Lopez worked a walk with the bases loaded to bring in Omura for the first run, before UH took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Castaneda. Then Spiers came up with a big two-run single to right field, scoring Lopez and Asato, making it 6-3.

But the Cougars weren't done as they broke out with a six-run sixth inning to make it 9-6. The 'Bows got two in the sixth on Magana's two-run double, before tying it in the seventh when Spiers scored on a wild pitch after hitting a triple to right.

With the score tied, Fisherbaugh came in and did his work, shutting down Wazzu with the bases loaded in the eighth, before recording back-to-back, 1-2-3 innings in the ninth and 10th.

That set up the 'Bows in the bottom of the 10th. Spiers led off with a walk before Troy Hanzawa was hit by a pitch. Matthew Inouye then laid down a great bunt for the sacrifice, while reaching first on an error, setting up Avila's game-winner.

The Rainbows and Cougars will close out their four-game series tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium.

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