LA JOLLA, Calif. – After falling behind early, the Hawai'i baseball team broke out the bats in a 14-6 win to clinch the series victory over UC San Diego Saturday. The Rainbow Warriors will look to finish off the sweep of the defending Big West champions Sunday.
 
The Rainbow Warriors banged out 19 hits – their most in a conference game this year – while all nine starters both recorded a hit and scored a run. Three Rainbow Warrior pitchers combined to strike out 12 Triton batters while scattering six runs on eight hits, three of which came in the ninth inning with the game decided.  
 
The Tritons struck first for the second-straight day, hitting solo homers in the first and second inning, but the 'Bows came roaring back with seven unanswered runs to open up a lead.
 
Elijah Ickes put Hawai'i on the board with an RBI single in the third inning and Matthew Miura delivered a sacrifice fly in the fourth to tie it up at two in the fourth. The Rainbow Warriors then struck for three runs in the fifth on an Austin Machado RBI groundout, followed by a Kyson Donahue's monster two-run homer to take a 5-2 lead.
 
Ickes added to the lead in the sixth inning, coming through with his second and third RBIs of the day on a two-run double down the right field line to make it 7-2.
 
After UCSD cut the UH lead to 7-4 with a pair of runs in the seventh, the 'Bows again answered in a big way with a seven-run eighth to break things open. Ickes drove in his fourth run of the day with an infield hit before Jake Tsukada delivered a two-run single to make it 10-4. Machado followed one batter later by blasting a two-run shot out to right center on the first pitch to stretch it to 12-4 before Miura drove in a pair on a two-run single with two outs to cap off the scoring.
 
Ickes drove in a season-high four runs to pace the UH offense, finishing 3-for-5 with a run scored and a double. Tsukada turned in a four-hit day, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored while Miura drove in three runs and went 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs. Five other Rainbow Warriors turned in multi-hit games as all nine starters recorded a hti for the second time in a game this year.
 
UH starter Randy Abshier bounced back nicely after allowing the two early solo homers, turning in a quality start with seven strikeouts over 6.1 innings in his hometown of San Diego. Danny Veloz got one out in the seventh and Connor Harrison took it the rest of the way, striking out four and walking none over 2.1 frames.
 
The two teams wrap-up their three-game series Sunday at 10 a.m. HT.