RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Hawai'i baseball team evened up the series at UC Riverside with a wild 12-10 win Saturday thanks to the late-game heroics of Matt Wong and Aaron Ujimori.
 
After blowing a 6-0 lead in the seventh and falling behind 9-6 in the eighth, the 'Bows got two huge hits late in the game to secure the win. Ujimori came through with a clutch two-out, three-run double in the eighth inning to tie it up at nine before Wong hit a two-run shot out to center to give UH the lead for good in the top of the ninth.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (21-14, 10-7 Big West) delivered a two-out rally in the eighth to set up Ujimori's game-tying hit. Kyson Donahue and Jacob Igawa singled before Jared Quandt was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ujimori then came up as a pinch-hitter and laced a ball into the right center gap, scoring all three 'Bows to knot it up at nine. Ujimori then came in to score on a wild pitch to give UH a 10-9 lead.
 
After the Highlanders (8-30, 2-15 Big West) tied it with a run in the bottom of the eighth, Dallas Duarte reached on a one-out hit by pitch in the ninth to set the table for Wong. The Mililani native unloaded on a 1-0 pitch to dead center field, plating Duarte and putting Hawai'i up 12-10. Connor Harrison, who entered in the eighth, came back out for the ninth and shut the door, stranding a two-out single to finish the win.
 
The Rainbow Warriors wasted no time jumping in front, scoring four times in the first inning. The first five 'Bows reached base to start the game, with Igawa and Quandt each delivering RBI singles to chase UCR starter Alfredo Capecete with no outs in the opening frame. A wild pitch scored another Hawai'i run before Ben Zeigler-Namoa came through with a sacrifice fly to cp off the scoring in the first.
 
Wong added to the UH lead in the second, hitting an opposite-field solo homer with one out to stretch the lead to 5-0. The 'Bows tacked on another in the fourth as Jordan Donahue led off the inning with a single, moved to third on a Wong base hit and scored on Kyson Donahue's sacrifice fly.
 
From there, the Highlanders would score the game's next nine runs to take the lead. After getting on the board with an unearned run in the fourth, UCR struck for four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to take a 9-6 lead into the eighth to set up the wild finish.
 
Wong turned in his third four-hit game of the season, going 4-for-6 with two homers, three RBIs and three runs scored. It's his first career multi-homer game while making him the third different Rainbow Warrior to hit two homers in a game this year, joining Quandt and Duarte. Igawa also delivered a multi-hit game, going 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored to extend his hitting streak to eight games.
 
Duarte's hit by pitch in the ninth inning also tied the UH career record for most HBPs with 37, tying Darren Blakely (1996-98). On the mound, Randy Abshier started and went 5.1 innings with five strikeouts as UH improved to 5-0 when he pitches five or more innings.
 
The 'Bows will go for the series win against the Highlanders Sunday at 10 a.m. HT.