Box Score

RUSTON, La. - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (35-12, 12-6 WAC) beat the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (28-20, 9-10) 9-2 at J.C. Love Field Friday, to remain at least a game ahead of the pack in the WAC standings. Justin Costi (7-1) came up just short of a complete game, allowing two runs in 8.2 innings with eight strikeouts. Jericho Jones (5-3) took the loss for the Bulldogs.

Elijah Christensen came up just short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, three RBI and two runs. Esteban Lopez added a 2-for-5 game with a double and three runs while Matthew Inouye went 1-for-5 with two runs.

Christensen again put the Rainbows on the board early, smacking a two-run home run to straight-away centerfield in the second inning. UH then added to their lead in the fourth. Kristopher Sanchez hit a RBI-single up the middle before Jonathan Hee laid down a perfect sacrifice squeeze, scoring Christensen to push the Rainbow lead to 4-0.

The Hawai`i offense kept it rolling, adding two runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and two more in the ninth. Louisiana Tech finally got to Costi in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two runs to get him out of the game. But Jeffrey Soskin came in and struck out the final batter, making the final 9-2.

The 'Bows and Bulldogs will finish the series tomorrow with two games, at noon (7 a.m. HST) and 6 p.m. (1 p.m. HST), at J.C. Love Field.

-UH-