Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (15-20, 7-7 WAC) beat the New Mexico State Aggies (15-17, 4-6) 8-3 in front of a crowd of 2,467 at Les Murakami Stadium Friday. Nicholas Rhodes (2-4) got the win, allowing three runs in 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. Matthew Daly had an effective relief outing, allowing no runs and no hits in 3.2 innings, striking out seven to earn his first save. Sebastien Vendette (0-3) took the loss for NMSU.

Kevin Macdonald led the way for UH, going 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run. Vinnie Catricala added a 1-for-5 game with two RBI, a double and a run while Sean Montplaisir went 1-for-3 with two runs while Jonathan Hee was 1-for-5 with one RBI and a run.

New Mexico State opened the scoring early, putting up a run in the top of the first. But Hawai`i responded quickly as Brandon Haislet hit a RBI-single to tie the game at 1-1. UH had an opportunity to take the lead, but left the bases loaded to keep it tied after one inning.

The Rainbows' bats then exploded for six runs in the fourth. Derek DuPree started it with a sacrifice fly. Hee then followed up with a RBI-single before Macdonald and Catricala drove in two runs each, pushing the Hawai`i lead to 7-1.

NMSU cut into their deficit in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs to get it to 7-3. UH added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh to get it to 8-3. And that would prove to be more than enough for Daly, who retired the final seven batters he faced to hold UH's win.

The two teams close their series tomorrow with a doubleheader at Les Murakami Stadium, starting at 1:05 p.m.

-UH-