Hawaii’s hottest hitter turned its first Big West series into a win.

Junior Conner George broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run double off Tyler Kuresa’s glove at first and Hawaii went on to defeat UC Santa Barbara 6-4 on Saturday night before a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,559.

George, who entered the game with a .340 average, extended his hitting streak to eight games with a double off reliever Greg Mahle with nobody out in the eighth.

The ball bounced off Kuresa’s glove and rolled to the fence in foul territory, allowing Kaeo Aliviado and Marc Flores to score the go-ahead runs.

George has 10 RBIs in his last seven games and is a key reason why the Rainbows (7-17, 2-1) have won six of eight.

"It was a very similar situation to the first game with runners at first and second and nobody out," George said. "Worked a 3-1 count and looked for a good pitch and the umpire called a questionable strike, so I tried to stick with it and I’m glad it bounced off the kid’s glove."

George missed a bunt sign in the same situation in Thursday’s 7-6 loss when he eventually popped out to short with men on first and second and nobody out.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso gave George the green light this time, and the right fielder responded with his fifth extra-base hit of the season.

"Conventional wisdom is you have to bunt there and I was thinking maybe give him one swing and then we’ll bunt," Trapasso said. "But he’s out hottest guy … and it’s just one of those things where you flip the coin and go with the hot hand."

Hawaii scored in five of the six innings it put the leadoff man on base. Flores, UH’s cleanup hitter, finished 3-for-3 with a double and three runs scored and batted leadoff in three different innings.

"It’s sometimes rough being the leadoff hitter, but I like it," Flores said. "I’ve been seeing the ball well and things are going our way right now, which feels good."

Senior Jon Flinn (1-2) picked up his first win, retiring all four batters he faced.

After Hawaii starter Matt Cooper went seven innings, lefty Lawrence Chew gave up two hits while getting two outs to put the go-ahead run at second. After UCSB (13-12, 1-2) pinch-hit with a right-hander to face Chew, Trapasso went to Flinn, who got Steven Fisher to fly out to center on the first pitch.

Cooper gutted his way through seven innings despite not having his best stuff. His streak of 17 consecutive scoreless innings ended in the first on Robby Nesovic’s RBI double.

After Hawaii took a 2-1 lead in the third, Peter Maris uncorked a three-run homer off Cooper to make it 4-2 Gauchos.

"You’re not going to have your best stuff every night, but you have to make your adjustments and battle through it," Cooper said. "I was falling behind in the count a little bit, and when you do that, it’s to the hitter’s advantage."

Cooper allowed five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.

He survived two mound visits from Trapasso to go at least seven innings for the third straight start. Cooper issued a four-pitch walk to Jackson Morrow to start the fifth and earn the second visit from Trapasso, who left him in the game.

"He didn’t have his best stuff and honestly, I went out there to take him out in the fifth inning," Trapasso said. "You could tell early on his pitches weren’t as sharp as we were used to seeing, but honestly, those last two innings were probably the best he had thrown."

Trapasso said he’d start lefty Scott Squier in today’s game. Squier is 0-4 with a 3.09 ERA and pitched two innings in the loss on Thursday.