Box Score

RUSTON, La. - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (29-29) ran away with a victory over the Nevada Wolf Pack (32-25) 14-5 in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament at J.C. Love Field on the campus of Louisiana Tech Friday, advancing to the winner's bracket. Joshua Schneider (6-2) pitched well, allowing five runs in 7.1 innings to get the win. Kyle Howe (8-3) took the loss for Nevada.

Jeffrey Van Doornum had a huge game, going 3-for-6 with two home runs and five RBI. Brandon Haislet added a 4-for-6 game with a home run, a double and three RBI, while Jonathan Hee went 3-for-6 with a double, two runs and on RBI. Landon Hernandez added a 3-for-5 game with a run, with Matt Roquemore, Greg Garcia, Kevin Macdonald and Vinnie Catricala had two hits and two runs each.

Van Doornum got the Rainbow offense started, slamming a three-run home run off the scoreboard in rightfield, giving the 'Bows a quick 3-0 edge. UH then put up another big inning in the bottom of the second scoring three runs, highlighted by a deep two-run homer to left, pushing their lead to 6-0.

Nevada put up a run in the top of the third to cut it back to 6-1. But the Rainbows' run parade kept going in the bottom of the third as Macdonald scored on an error before Roquemore drove in another, giving Hawai`i an 8-1 edge.

The Wolf Pack got to Schneider a bit in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs on three hits to cut their deficit back to 8-3. But Hawai`i kept hitting. Van Doornum started it up in the fourth with a solo home run, his second of the game. Derek DuPree then drove a two-run single up the middle to get UH's lead to 11-3.

Van Doornum drove in another run in the seventh to get it to 12-3. UH had a chance to end the game by the 10-run rule in the seventh, but left the game-ending run on third, keeping the game alive. Nevada took advantage of the extra life, scoring two runs in the top of the eighth to get it back to 12-5.

The Rainbows again extended their lead to nine runs in the bottom of the eighth as Hee and Haislet drove in runs on back-to-back hits, pushing it to 14-5. Cory Kahn took care of the rest, pitching 1.2 no-hit innings to close out the victory.

The Rainbows will now face Fresno State in the game between the two undefeated teams at 11:00 a.m. (6:00 a.m. HST).

-UH-