HONOLULU – The University of Hawaiʻi baseball team was handed an 8-4 loss by CSU Bakersfield on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
 
Hawaiʻi (9-9) tried to overcome the five-run fifth for CSU Bakersfield (10-10) with runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Roadrunners tacked on two more runs in the ninth to put the game away.
 
Jeremy Wu-Yelland, who went 5.0 innings on the mound with six runs on four hits, took the loss for the Rainbow Warriors. Carter Loewen hurled 2.2 scoreless innings in relief, while Connor Butler struck out the only batter he faced. Logan Pouelsen capped the game giving up two unearned runs in the ninth.
 
The two sides traded runs in the second inning with UH scoring on Ethan Lopez's groundout.
 
CSU Bakersfield's five-run fifth was aided by a bases-clearing double off the bat of Ryan Koch.
 
UH's late-inning rally included an RBI double by Daylen Calicdan in the seventh to cut the deficit down to 6-2. In the eighth, Maaki Yamazaki knocked in a run with an RBI groundout, and Alex Baeza tripled to bring in one more to put UH down just two at 6-4.
 
The Roadrunners closed the door with a run on a UH error followed by another on a sacrifice fly from Koch.
 
At the plate, Baeza, Calicdan and Scotty Scott tallied two hits apiece for the Rainbow Warriors.
 
Game three of the series versus CSU Bakersfield is set for Saturday, March 16 at 6:35 p.m.