HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i baseball team grabbed the Friday night win against UC Riverside 5-2 at Les Murakami Stadium.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (11-16, 4-6) blasted two home runs for the second time this season, as the Highlanders (4-23, 2-8) dropped their third in a row.
 
All was quiet as pitchers sat down batters over the first two innings until the first pitch in the bottom of the third junior right fielder Matt Wong crushed a no-doubt home run over the right-field wall. The 'Bows ended up loading the bases in the same inning but could not manage any more runs.
 
UH held the one-run lead into the fifth before UC Riverside got to junior pitcher Cade Halemanu, where they would score two unearned runs, taking a 2-1 lead.
 
In the sixth, Hawai'i managed to load the bases for freshman designated hitter Jordan Donahue who beat out a single on the right side of the infield and tied the game at 2-2.
 
UH, shut down the UCR attack in the seventh, and in the bottom half of the inning, graduate center fielder Cole Cabrera hit a moonshot of a home run over the left-field wall to regain the lead 3-2.
 
The Warriors added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth as Jordan Donahue and Naighel Ali'I Calderon reached second and third. With sophomore third baseman Aaron Ujimori at the dish, he delivered a two-run single up the middle to put the game out of reach.
 
Junior relief pitcher Blaze Koali'i Pontes shut the Highlanders down the stretch as he pitched four and a third inning of relief. He allowed three hits, no walks, and struck out four along the way to his first win of the year.
 
Jordan Donahue was the only Warrior with a multi-hit game. At the same time, Ujimori's two RBIs were the most important and most on the team.
 
The Rainbow Warriors are back Saturday against UC Riverside for game two of the series, where they could pick up their first series win of the year. The first pitch is set for 6:35 pm HT.