Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (24-23, 11-10 WAC) moved to second in the WAC standings with a 8-0 victory over the Nevada Wolf Pack (20-19, 9-8), completing their second-straight WAC sweep in front of a near-capacity crowd of 4,100 at Les Murakami Stadium Saturday. Justin Costi (2-4) pitched 8.0 innings, giving up just six hits and two walks while striking out four to get the win. Travis Sutton (2-4) took the loss for Nevada.

With the win, the 'Bows moved past Nevada in the WAC standings to second place, just two games behind conference-leading Rice. Hawai`i is currently a half a game ahead of San Jose State, who close their three-game series at Louisiana Tech tomorrow, by a half a game.

Derek DuPree came up big for the Rainbows, going 3-for-4 with two runs and a double. Joseph Spiers had another 2-for-4 game with two runs, a double and one RBI while Daniel Magana was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double.

Hawai`i opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, as Ammon, Isaac Omura and Magana all drove in runs to put UH up 3-0. Spiers then added to the lead in the bottom of the fifth, as he singled up the middle and moved around the bases before scoring on a wild pitch.

The Rainbows put up three more runs in the seventh on RBI-singles by Omura, Nathan Thurber and Magana, pushing the lead to 7-0. Spiers would later drive in the final run in the bottom of the eighth, giving UH its eighth run.

In the mean time, Costi kept the Pack off the scoreboard despite allowing Nevada runners to reach scoring position in six of the eight innings that he pitched, before giving the ball to Richard Olsen to close the game with a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth.

Hawai`i will now get a week off before hosting the Fresno State Bulldogs in their home finale, running from May 12-14 at Les Murakami Stadium.

-uh-