Good was not good enough for the University of Hawaii baseball team on Saturday in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The Rainbow Warriors amassed 12 hits and placed the leadoff batter on base in eight of nine innings, but fell to UC Santa Barbara, 8-3, at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

The Gauchos won the first two in this three-game series to improve to 18-6 overall and 7-1 in the Big West. The ’Bows are 8-16 and 2-6. The series finale is today, beginning at 10 a.m. Hawaii time.

The ’Bows took a 2-0 lead on Kyson Donahue’s two-run double in the first. They broke a 2-all tie on DallasJ Duarte’s RBI single in the third.

But the Gauchos tied it at 3 on Kyle Johnson run-scoring groundout in the third. The Gauchos then scored five runs in the middle innings to pull away to an 8-3 lead. Christian Kirtley’s three-run homer in the sixth was the knockout blow.

The ’Bows’ small-ball attack was sabotaged on the base paths. Three ’Bows were picked off, one was caught stealing, and a third was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple.

’Bows appeared to have difficulty reading UCSB’s Michael Gutierrez, a left-hander who entered with a 3.03 ERA and averaging 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

“When you face a left-hander like that, that takes away your hit-and-run game, the steal game,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “You’ve got to guess right.”

Gutierrez had a successful pickoff in a stay-put situation.

“It’s the first time in my career anybody’s picked off on a 3-0 pitch,” Hill said. “Usually, it’s kind of a guarantee (an attempt won’t be made). Coach (Andrew) Checketts is one of the best in the country.”

Checketts has double duty as the Gauchos’ head coach and pitching coach.

In the UH fifth, Naighel Ali‘i Calderon, who was making his first start since suffering a hand injury, reached on a leadoff bunt single, But Gutierrez picked off Calderon. With two outs, Stone Miyao pulled a drive to deep right. Trying to stretch a double to a triple, Miyao was thrown out at third on a relay from right fielder Broc Mortensen to second baseman Zander Darby to third baseman Jason Willow.

“That’s all our doing,” Hill said of the five outs on the base paths. “We did that to ourselves. You never want to make the last out at third base. Stone was trying to push the envelope and be aggressive. That’s a learning experience. … Those are some of the things we’ll keep cracking rocks on and try to get better, as a coaching staff and specifically me.”

Andy Archer dropped to 1-4 after allowing eight hits and four runs in four innings. Archer has pitched past the fifth inning in only one of seven starts this season.

UH left fielder Scotty Scott departed after suffering a shoulder injury. It appeared Scott was hurt while sliding into first on a successful bunt single. Scott stayed in, even playing left field in the bottom of the first, before exiting.

“It started getting worse as the game went on,” Hill said. “He had that great push bunt in the first inning. I’m not really sure (about the severity of the injury). It’s kind of a contusion. It might have popped out and back in. It stiffened up. He’s a tough kid.”

Hill said right-handed pitcher Buddie Pindel will make his fourth start in today’s series finale. As a starter, Pindel is 1-0 with a 0.97 ERA and 0.86 WHIP.

The ’Bows conclude the four-game road trip with a nonconference meeting against USC on Monday.