The University of Hawaii baseball team relied on the “Buddie” system to pull out a 4-3 victory over UC Irvine at Les Murakami Stadium.

A Saturday night crowd of 2,695 saw Buddie Pindel produce an 11-out save as the Rainbow Warriors evened the three-game series. Cory Ronin will start for the ‘Bows (8-13 and 2-3 in Big West) in today’s series finale.

“We’re trying to give the fans their money’s worth,” UH coach Rich Hill said of the suspenseful ending.

With UH ahead 4-3 in the ninth, Dub Gleed hit a one-out single that fell in front of diving center fielder Cole Cabrera. Caden Kendle entered as the pinch runner for Gleed. That brought up left-swinging Jacob Castro, who hit a home run off the scoreboard in the second inning, and a mound visit by Hill.

Pindel, a right-hander, was certain left-handed Tai Atkins was going to be summoned.

“I thought they were going to go for the (lefty-lefty) matchup right there,” Pindel said. “I handed the ball to (Hill). He left me in. He said it was my game. The rest is done.”

Pindel’s 0-1 pitch just landed foul, eluding left fielder Scotty Scott.

On the next pitch, Castro also placed it to left. This time, Scott made a diving catch for the second out.

“I missed the first one, and I was hoping to get another one,” Scott said. “He did. That’s great. Emotionally, I’m the kind of guy who wants to be up in the last inning with the bat in my hands. In this situation, I had the glove in my hand. If you’re watching the same game as me, I didn’t have the best game. You have to play it one pitch at a time. You never know when your name will be called in the most important situation.”

Hill said Kendle, who still was at first, is considered a “green” runner. “He’s going to go at some point,” Hill said. “We have to pick at some point.”

Pindel’s pickoff attempt went past first baseman Jacob Igawa as Kendle sprinted to third.

“Don’t know what happened,” Pindel said of the throw, then vowing, “after I threw the ball away, I knew I had to get (Luke Spillane).”

Spillane grounded to short, and Kyson Donahue’s throw to first ended the game.

“Just fastballs down in the zone,” said Pindel, who touched a personal-best 93 mph.

Hill said: “Great job by Buddie getting that last out. A lot of great performances today. It starts with Andy Archer. He gave us a quality start. And then Buddie Pindel. That’s the second consecutive outing he’s been dominant. … That’s kind of that salty veteran that kind of smelled blood toward the end.”

Archer’s sixth start was his best. He allowed two runs through the first five innings, his longest outing of the season. But in the sixth, Nathan Church blasted a shot for a double to right-center. Church went to third on Thomas McCaffrey’s flyout to Matt Wong in right field. Justin Torres followed with a double to right to score Church and cut the Anteaters’ deficit to 4-3.

But Pindel, who was considered a candidate to start today, was summoned to replace Archer. Hill said it was decided in a close game, he would stack Archer and Pindel. “We had that tonight, and Buddie took us home,” Hill said.

With the infield in, Gleed hit a hard grounder to the right side. Second baseman Stone Miyao fielded the ball and threw out Gleed as Torres raced to third. Pindel then induced Castro to hit a grounder to Igawa for the third out.

The ’Bows scored two unearned runs in the fifth inning to break a 2-all tie. Aaron Ujimori led off with single to right, then scooted to second on Scott’s sacrifice. DallasJ Duarte put down a bunt in front of the plate. UCI catcher Thomas McCaffrey scooped the ball, but fired inaccurately to first baseman Castro. Ujimori, who was running on the pitch, sprinted home from second for a 3-2 UH lead. Duarte stole second, went to third on Igawa’s deep flyout, and scored on Wong’s ground single to third.

The ’Bows broke out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Ujimori opened with a triple to right. One out later, Duarte grounded to Castro at first. But Castro’s throw to the plate was off the mark as Ujimori scored. After a single and a throwing error, Duarte scored on Wong’s RBI groundout.

The Anteaters tied it at 2 in the second. Torres tripled, then scored on a passed ball. Later, Castro hit a drive that struck the scoreboard in right-center.