A day after being rocked, the Hawaii baseball team rolled to Saturday’s 15-3 smackdown of UC Riverside at The Plex in Riverside, Calif.

Suppressing the nightmare of Friday night’s 16-5 loss to the Highlanders, the Rainbow Warriors awakened with a 19-hit barrage to even the three-game Big West series. Today’s first pitch is at 10 a.m.

“Friday was pretty close to embarrassing,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a telephone interview. “Our guys understood that, and responded positively and competed. I’m happy for them. And it’s good to get back on track.”

Connon Cannon’s 11th homer of the season helped the Highlanders tie it at 2 in the bottom of the second. But in an epic third inning, the ’Bows scored 12 runs on 10 hits, nearly batting around twice, sending 17 batters to the plate.

After their second out, eight consecutive ’Bows reached base on seven hits and a hit batsman. Third baseman Ethan Lopez punctuated the inning with a grand slam that soared over the wall in left field.

Lopez finished with six RBIs. Shortstop Maaki Yamazaki and left fielder Daylen Calicdan each had four hits for the ’Bows. Every UH starter reached base.

“The main story was the offense today,” Trapasso said.

Hawaii received a boost from first baseman Alex Baeza’s return. A week ago, he departed a game when a kicked helmet inadvertently struck his face. Baeza entered the concussion protocol, which prevented him from practicing this past week. He did not play on Friday but rejoined the lineup on Saturday and went 2-for-4.

Cade Smith also was healthy in his first game since suffering a bruised right thigh when he was struck by a liner on April 5. Smith spaced nine hits, struck out five and walked only one in six innings.

“Just the way Cade was throwing, I was comfortable he was going to give us a good start,” Trapasso said. “I was really happy for Cade. He found his breaking ball today. We’re talking about the first time in a year and a half where he actually found the slider, relied on it, trusted it. And it was really a dominant pitch for him.”

Jeremy Wu-Yelland threw three scoreless innings for the ’Bows.

“I wanted to put (Wu-Yelland) in because he’s been struggling,” Trapasso said. “And, frankly, he’s been down in the dumps a little bit since I took him out of the (starting) rotation. I thought this was a good opportunity. Not a lot of pressure. He had a big lead. Let’s go out and attack and compete and get back into rhythm. He was good. He was really good. I’m hoping he can build on that. We’re going to need him down the stretch to go out and compete and throw strikes. His stuff was absolutely filthy today. It’s been a while since he was able to leave the park with a smile on his face.”

The ’Bows (14-18, 4-4) have a chance to win their second series in a row and third of the season. The Highlanders dropped to 10-22 and 2-6.

Trapasso said Saturday’s one-sided outcome is “not really going to help unless we come out and compete (on Sunday). That’s a game we can put behind us and go out and try to win the series.”

Logan Pouelsen, who has won each of his past two starts, is scheduled to pitch for the ’Bows today.