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VIDEO: Game Recap (courtesy of Ka Leo)

HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow baseball team hoped for a good start to their homestand but didn't get the result they desired. UH opened its series against Gonzaga, losing to the Zags, 7-1, on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium.

The 'Bows (1-13) went up against All-American pitcher Marco Gonzales who worked eight innings and allowed one UH run on four hits. Pi'ikea Kitamura drove home Andre Real in the fourth inning for the only Rainbow run. Real had gotten into scoring position after he doubled to open the inning.

Connor Little (0-3) was tagged with the loss in seven complete innings of work. He allowed five runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts.

Clayton Eslick batted 3-5 to lead Gonzaga (7-4-1) with Brock Slavin adding two hits, one run, and two RBI including a two-run double in the second inning.

The Zags gave Gonzales an early lead to work with when they plated a run in the first inning. Steven Halcomb struck out for what should have been the second out of the inning, but a wild pitch by Little allowed him to reach base on the strikeout wild pitch. Halcomb would later score on an RBI-single by Cory Lebrun (1 H, 2 RBI).

Gonzaga jumped on the 'Bows again, this time with three runs in the second inning. Slavin's double along the right field line was the big hit of the inning, driving in Zach Abbruzza (2 H, 1 R) and Billy Moon (1 H, 2 R) to help the Zags to a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Little settled down and allowed just one run over the next five innings but it wasn't enough as UH could not muster enough offense to get back in the game.

The Rainbows and Zags will play game two on Saturday at 6:35 p.m.