Box Score

RUSTON, La. - After waiting 46 days and an hour to make up the game that was rained out in Honolulu, a rain delay of one hour and 11 minutes after one inning wasn't enough to stop the University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (34-12, 11-6 WAC) from defeating the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (28-19, 9-9) 9-1 in the first of a four-game series at J.C. Love Field Thursday. Steven Wright (9-2) picked up the win, allowing just one run on six hits with nine strikeouts. Luke Burnett (3-5) took the loss for LTU.

Elijah Christensen was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run. Robbie Wilder added a 3-for-5 game with three runs while Luis Avila was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a double. Derek DuPree added a 2-for-5 game with one RBI.

The Rainbows looked like they were going to put a run on the board in the second. With Inouye on second base, Christensen hit a ball to left, that looked like it scored the runner. But after an appeal, the umpires ruled that Inouye hadn't touched third base, ending the inning with the run wiped off the board.

But it didn't take long for Hawai`i to make up for it. Jonathan Hee put up the first official run on a wild pitch in the third inning before Wilder scored on an error, making it 2-0 after three innings.

Christensen made up for the RBI that was taken from him in the second inning, hitting a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth that started the scoring on a five-run inning, pushing the 'Bows' lead to 7-0. The Bulldogs would put up a run in the seventh on a solo home run before UH added a run in the eighth and ninth innings, making the final 9-1.

The series continues tomorrow with a game at 6 p.m. (1 p.m. HST) at J.C. Love Field.

-UH-