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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i baseball team could not overcome a late-inning surge by Fresno State, falling to the Bulldogs, 5-3, on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium. Both teams even their Western Athletic Conference records to 1-1 and will play their series finale on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.

The Rainbows (18-13) were done in by a four-run eighth inning by the Bulldogs (15-15). Fresno State batted the order, plating four runs to take a 5-3 lead that would hold up. Jarrett Arakawa (3-3) took the loss for UH. He pitched to four batters in the eighth inning before Kyle Dowdy entered in relief. Arakawa, the WAC's ERA leader, allowed four earned runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts.

Pi'ikea Kitamura led Hawai'i at the plate with a pair of RBI doubles, twice scoring Kaeo Aliviado (1 H, 2 R). Trevor Podratz recorded one hit and one RBI, and Stephen Ventimilia added one hit and one run.

Justin Haley (4-2) earned the win for the Bulldogs in seven innings of work. He allowed three runs on six hits with five strikeouts.

The 'Bows took an early lead off of Kitamura's first RBI double. After an infield single by Aliviado, Kitamura smacked a Haley pitch to the right field alley to score Aliviado from first base.

The Bulldogs answered just one-half inning later. Austin Wynns (1 H, 1 R) opened the inning with a double and later scored to tie the game at 1-1.

UH recaptured the lead with a run in the fifth inning. Podratz ripped a pitch through the middle of the infield to score Ventimilia who had walked, stole second, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Kitamura doubled again to increase the UH lead to 3-1 after seven innings.

Patrick Hutcheson and Aaron Judge both recorded two hits and one run to lead Fresno State at the plate.

4,228 tickets were issued for the game, with 3,118 fans coming through the turnstiles.





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