HONOLULU – The Hawai'i baseball team dropped a back-and-forth affair to UConn, 13-8, on Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium to even up the series at one game apiece.
 
The Rainbow Warriors trailed 2-0 early but scored seven unanswered runs to take a 7-2 lead after four innings. The Huskies, however, would score the next 11 runs while taking advantage of a handful of UH miscues to break things open.
 
UConn struck first, scoring single runs in the first two innings to go up 2-0. A leadoff double came around to score in the first inning, before the Hawai'i outfielders lost two fly balls in early evening sky in the second inning to plate another run.
 
The Rainbow bats woke up after that, as they scored seven runs over the next two innings to go up 7-2. UH scored three two-out runs in the third to take the lead. Jacob Igawa singled home the first run while an error by the UConn center fielder plated another to tie the game. Kyson Donahue drove in Igawa one batter later with a line drive single to right to make it 3-2.
 
Hawai'i took advantage of some wildness by UConn pitching in the fourth to add four more runs. The 'Bows drew four walks while taking an HBP in the frame, with runs coming in to score on a Jordan Donahue bases loaded free pass, a Ben Zeigler-Namoa RBI single and a Kyson Donahue two-run base knock to stretch the lead to five.
 
The Huskies came roaring back with six unanswered runs over the next three innings to re-claim the lead. After a single scored a run in the fifth, a two-run homer in the sixth cut the UH lead to 7-5. UConn then scored three times in the seventh with two runs scoring on a throwing error before a Matt Garbowski RBI single put the Huskies in front, 8-7.
 
A five-run ninth inning for the Huskies blew things open, making it 13-7. UH added one run in the bottom of the ninth on a Matt Wong RBI single.
 
The two teams will play game three of the four-game series Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.