Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (13-10, 1-0 WAC) won their conference-opener over Louisiana Tech (7-15, 0-1) 8-6 in front of a crowd of 2,203 at the Les Murakami Stadium Friday. Steven Wright (3-2) got the win in his first start of the year, going 8.0 innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts. Guy McDowell pitched 1.0 hitless inning to get his second save of the year while Amos Ramon (1-2) took the loss for the Bulldogs.

Isaac Omura continued his power surge, going 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, two RBI and three runs. Matthew Inouye also continued his hot hitting with a 3-for-5 game with one RBI and one run. Rocky Russo added a 2-for-3 game with two RBI and a double while Erik Ammon and Luis Avila also had two-hit games.

The Bulldogs took an early lead with a run in the top of the first. But UH quickly responded as Ammon drove in Joseph Spiers on Hawai`i's second at bat, before Inouye drove in Omura to make it 2-1 after one inning.

Louisiana Tech answered with a three-run second inning, making it 4-2 on sacrifice flies by Brendan Haygood and Ben Tabor and a RBI-single by Adam Cobb.

But the 'Bows didn't go away, dropping three runs in the third. Inouye drove in Omura again to start the scoring before Russo hit a two-run double to left, making it 5-4. Then Omura did his damage in the fourth, blasting his third home run in the past six games, a two-run shot to right, to extend the Rainbows' lead to 7-4.

The Bulldogs pulled back within a run after scoring two in the sixth inning on a RBI-single by Haygood. But it wasn't enough as UH picked up an insurance run on a RBI-single to center by Avila, before McDowell ended the game by forcing a double-play and throwing a strikeout in the ninth, handing Hawai`i the 8-6 victory.

The two teams will play again tomorrow with Ricky Bauer pitching for UH against Tech's Clayton Meyeer. The game will be at 6:35 p.m. at the Les Murakami Stadium.

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