RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Hawai'i baseball team dropped the rubber match of its Big West opening series at UC Riverside, 7-3 Sunday at the Riverside Sports Complex.
 
The Rainbow Warriors led 1-0 in a pitchers' duel early but gave up seven runs in the later innings to drop the opening series of conference play. The series loss snapped UH's streak of eight consecutive series victories dating back to last year.
 
Hawai'i broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when Itsuki Takemoto delivered a two-out, pinch-hit RBI single to score Xaige Lancaster and make it 1-0. That lead would be short-lived as the Highlanders scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead.
 
David Whittle provided a pair of huge hits, first putting UCR in front with a three-run double in the sixth inning to make it 3-1 followed by a two-out, three-run homer the next inning to break things open and make it 6-1.
 
The Rainbow Warriors climbed back into the game with two runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to 6-3. Ben Zeigler-Namoa doubled with one out before comig around to score on a wild pitch and Elijah Ickes singled and came in to score on an error to pull the 'Bows within three.
 
UCR came right back with a solo homer in the bottom half to stymie any hopes of a UH rally.
 
Hawai'i starter Liam O'Brien extended his scoreless innings streak to 11.0 innings dating back to his last start vs. Northeastern on Mar. 2. O'Brien has still not allowed an earned run through 21.1 innings pitched on the year after working four scoreless innings of three-hit ball with six strikeouts, despite walking five batters.
 
The Rainbow Warriors return home to host Chaminade Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium before taking on nationally-ranked UC Santa Barbara over the weekend.