HONOLULU – The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team lost its season-opener to the No. 9 UC Irvine Anteaters 5-1 in front of a crowd of 3,844 at the Les Murakami Stadium Friday. Preseason All-American Daniel Bibona took the win for UCI, allowing one run on just one hit while striking out eight in 7.2 innings. Jayson Kramer took the loss for UH, allowing four runs in 6.2 innings while striking out seven.

 

Landon Hernandez went 1-for-3 with a double and a RBI. Jeffrey Van Doornum was also 1-for-3 while Chase Koissian scored UH's only run. Ryan Davis pitched well in relief, allowing one run on one hit in 2.1 innings.

 

Bibona held the Rainbows, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning, before giving up a lead-off single to Van Doornum. He then induced a double play before giving up his only walk to Koissian before getting taken out of the game. Hernandez was then able to double to right field, scoring Koissian to give UH its one run.

 

UCI got on the scoreboard in the third. Sean Madigan hit a RBI-double before scoring on a wild pitch to give the Anteaters the 2-0 lead. They again put up two runs in the sixth as Dillon Bell and Francis Larson had back-to-back RBI singles, making it 4-0. Larson would add an RBI-double in the eighth to give UCI its fifth run.

 

The two teams will play a double-header tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. The first game of the doubleheader will be a nine-inning game with UH's Nathaniel Klein pitching against UCI's Christian Bergman. The second game will be just seven innings with Alex Capaul going against Crosby Slaught.