HONOLULU – The University of Hawaiʻi baseball team was handed a 4-0 defeat by the Portland Pilots at Les Murakami on Sunday in the final series of opening weekend.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (1-3) ran into a strong pitching effort by Portland (3-1) led by starter Chris Clements, who struck out eight in six shutout innings.
 
The 'Bows received a strong outing of their own from freshman pitcher Li'i Pontes out of the bullpen. Making his collegiate debut, the local product put together five scoreless innings with two strikeouts while giving up just two hits and no walks.
 
The Pilots scored their first run on a solo home run from Matt Kelly in the first. Dutton Elske added to Portland's lead by knocking in two runs on a double in the second before adding another RBI double in the fourth.
 
UH's best scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the eighth with Dallas Duarte doubling down the left field line to lead off. Alex Baeza followed with a walk, and both Baeza and Duarte advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Daylen Calicdan. Portland's relief pitcher Morgan White was able to work out of the jam to keep UH off the board.
 
Senior Kash Koltermann started for UH, pitching 4.0 innings yielding four runs on six hits to take the loss.
 
Next up on the schedule is a four-game home set versus Iowa at Les Murakami Stadium. The Rainbow Warriors will host the Hawkeyes for a single game on Friday, Feb. 22 (6:35 p.m.), a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 23 (1:05 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.) and a single game on Sunday, Feb. 24 (1:05 p.m.).