HONOLULU – Four early runs were enough for the University of Hawai'i baseball team to even the series with a 4-2 win against Washington State on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium. The Cougars (2-4) out-hit the Rainbow Warriors 11-3 on the night but gritty pitching persevered the lead.
 
"It was nice to even the series," Hawaii head coach Mike Trapasso said. "You don't win many games being out hit 11 to 3, but we had no walks, played good defense most of the game, and found a way to scratch across runs with execution."
 
It was the second time this season the Rainbow Warriors (6-2) did not yield a walk to their opponent.
 
Junior shortstop Kole Kaler had the Bows' only extra-base hit of the game, and sophomore Scotty Scott and redshirt junior Alex Baeza collected the other two hits for Hawaii.
 
Redshirt junior outfielders Adam Fogel and Daylen Calicdan had Hawaii's only two RBI's of the game.
 
Hawai'i executed early with runs in the first three innings. Scott reached first on a hit by pitch to begin the first inning. Kaler moved him over via a bunt and a ground out in the next at bat moved Scott to third. A wild pitch pushed the sophomore across the plate for the opening run.
 
In the second inning, Baeza collected his base hit and advanced to second on a lazily played ball by the Cougars' center fielder. Junior Matt Wong subsequently walked and both Baeza and Wong moved into scoring position on another wild pitch. Redshirt senior catcher then produced a sacrifice fly to score Baeza.
 
The following inning, Scott singled to lead off the inning, Kaler walked and redshirt junior third baseman Dustin Demeter reached on an error, giving the Bows a bases loaded situation. Back-to-back unsuccessful Cougars double plays pushed two more runs across.
 
Hawai'i held on to the 4-0 lead until the eighth inning. Hawaii's starter sophomore Aaron Davenport led the way with 7.1 innings of work and withstood 10 Cougars hits. At the end of the day, Davenport's final line was 7.1 IP, 10 hits, three strikeouts, 2 runs, 1 earned run and no walks.
 
Junior Jeremy Wu-Yelland came into the eighth inning with two runners on and faced three batters and struck out one of them. Freshman Vince Reilly then came in for the four-out save. Reilly earned his second save of the year by inducing a fly out to end the eighth inning and then pitch a perfect ninth inning with a ground out and two subsequent fly outs. Wu-Yelland and Reilly threw less than twelve pitches each.
 
The two teams meet again on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.