HONOLULU – The long ball came up big for the University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (9-6), helping them beat the Loyola Marymount Lions (8-10) 9-5 in front of a crowd of 3,306 at Les Murakami Stadium Saturday. Harrison Kuroda (3-0) got the win for UH in relief, allowing no runs on one hit in 2.1 innings, while Jason Wheeler (0-2) took the loss for LMU.

 

Kevin Macdonald led the 'Bows, going 2-for-5 with a home run, a double and four RBI. Landon Hernandez also went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a homer. Kolten Wong was 2-for-3 with three runs, two walks and a stolen base while Matthew Roquemore went 2-for-4 with a double, a run and a stolen base. Easton Torigoe was 2-for-3 with a run in his first start of the season.

 

Jared Alexander allowed three unearned runs on four hits in 5.0 innings in his third start of the year.

 

Hernandez opened the scoring for Hawai`i in the second inning, blasting a solo home run to left field. Sean Montplaisir later singled in Roquemore in the inning, pushing UH's lead to 2-0.

 

LMU took the lead in the fourth, scoring three unearned runs to go ahead 3-2. Macdonald then came up with a big RBI-double in the bottom of the fifth for the 'Bows, again tying the score at 3-3.

 

The Lions reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh, scoring two runs in a two-out rally that gave LMU a 5-3 edge.

 

But Macdonald wasn't done, as the junior blasted a three-run home run to left-centerfield, pushing the Rainbows ahead 6-5. Hawai`i then added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, pushing the final score to 9-5.

 

The series between the Lions and Rainbows will close tomorrow with a 1:05 p.m. start time.