HONOLULU – Three runs in the top of the ninth hurt the University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (26-18, 9-8 WAC), who fell to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (24-18, 8-9) 8-5 in front of a crowd of 3,526 at Les Murakami Stadium Friday. Sam Spangler (5-1) got the loss in relief while Jamey Bradshaw (1-4) got the win for Tech.

 

Ryan Morford led the way for UH, going 4-for-4 with three runs, two doubles and one RBI. Kolten Wong added a 2-for-3 game with one RBI and a double while Greg Garcia was 2-for-5 with a triple and a run.

 

Louisiana Tech got on the board early, scoring a run in the first on a RBI-single by Kevin Winn.

 

Hawai`i answered in the fourth as Wong doubled in Morford before Landon Hernandez drove in Kevin Macdonald, putting UH ahead 2-1. But Tech came right back, tying it in the top of the fifth.

 

The Rainbows again pulled ahead in the bottom half of the inning as Morford hit a RBI-double with Macdonald sacrificing in a run, getting it to 4-2.

 

But the Bulldogs again answered, scoring three in the top of the sixth, the third coming on a wild pitch, giving LTU the 5-4 edge.

 

UH would get one back in the top of the seventh as Morford scored on a wild pitch, tying it at 5-5.

 

And that was where it stayed until LTU's big rally in the top of the ninth. The Bulldogs got back-to-back RBI-doubles by Nick Grunenwald and Winn to put Tech ahead 7-5. They got another run in the inning on a wild pitch to make the final 8-5.

 

The two teams continue the series tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. There are less than 400 reserved tickets remaining for tomorrow's game.

 

-UH-