HONOLULU – Down to the final out, the University of Hawai'i baseball team came from behind thanks to two errors to shock the Long Beach State to start the 2021 Big West Conference slate with a 3-2 win.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (9-2, 1-0 Big West) were down by one heading into the bottom of the ninth. Second baseman Aaron Ujimori led off the inning with a single and left fielder Scotty Scott got plunked and then with one out and runners on first and second, first baseman Alex Baeza came to the plate. Baeza hit a routine grounder towards the first baseman who saw the ball glance off his glove and into shallow right field. The ball booted away from the first baseman enough to give Ujimori time to score from second and tie the game at 2-2. 
 
Now with runners on runners on first and third, right fielder Tyler Best came to the plate looking to be the hero. After fouling off two 0-2 pitches, Best put the ball in play on the ground towards the shortstop. This time the ball went under the glove allowing Scott to score the winning run. 

The Dirtbags (0-1, 0-1 Big West) jumped on the board early to start the game. After a lead-off double and balk to move the runner to third, sophomore Aaron Davenport was able to strike out the next hitter but surrendered a RBI single through the right side bringing home the first run. The Dirtbags scored their second run of the game in similar fashion on a two-out double followed by a single in the fourth inning.
 
Between the first and second runs, Davenport retired nine in a row before the double. After allowing the second run, Davenport once again found his groove and retired nine of his last ten batters faced. The exclamation point to cap off his night was striking out his last three batters, all looking. He finished the night giving up two runs in seven innings, allowing five hits and striking out nine.
 
Davenport has gone 6.0+ in eight straight starts and the Rainbow Warriors have won all eight of those games.
 
Redshirt freshman Tyler Dyball (2-0) worked in relief of Davenport and did the job. Dyball retired six of the seven hitters he faced to give the 'Bows a chance to complete the rally.
 
Throughout the night, the 'Bows found ways to get guys on base but could not turn those runners into runs. The Rainbow Warriors left 10 on base while the Dirtbags left just four. LBSU only had seven base runners all night and one was thrown out trying to steal second.
 
Hawai'i scored it's first run in the bottom of the fourth inning after Best drew a full-count walk with one-out and saw sophomore Jacob Igawa single through the left side to give the 'Bows runners on first and second. Third baseman Dustin Demeter came up with a run-scoring single though the right side to get the Rainbow Warriors on the board and cut the deficit in half, 2-1. The rally came to an end after a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout.
 
The game had a bit of everything, including a two-minute delay to fix the mound as the rain started to come down in Manoa in which head coach Mike Trapasso came out to dress the mound to keep the mound playable.

The two clubs will face off in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:05 p.m. HT.