The 20th-ranked UC Irvine baseball team fought off Hawaii’s best shots for Friday night’s 12-8 victory at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 2,640 saw the Anteaters win the first two of this three-game series to improve to 21-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big West. The ’Bows fell to 15-9 and 2-3.

The ’Bows, who were down 8-1 in the middle of the fourth, closed to 9-8 with two runs in the eighth. Elijah Ickes opened the inning with a bunt single, beating pitcher Ryder Brooks’ throw to first. Jordan Donahue then placed a bunt that Brooks fielded but threw wildly to first. Ickes came around to score and Donahue ended up at second. Donahue then went to third on Jake Tsukada’s sacrifice. Austin Machado’s opposite-field single to left drove in Donahue to cut the UH deficit to a run. After Matthew Miura walked, reliever Ricky Tibbett struck out Kyson Donahue and Stone Miyao to prevent further damage.

But the Anteaters scored three runs in the top of the ninth to end the suspense.

Thomas McCaffrey, who hit his fifth homer of the season earlier in the game, drew a bases-loaded walk from Itsuki Takemoto to extend the Anteaters’ lead to 10-8. Takemoto did not allow a run in his first three innings of relief, but struggled in the ninth. James Castagnola walked and Caden Kendle singled. Both advanced on a wild pitch. Then Anthony Martinez, who homered on Thursday and singled in his first three at-bats on Friday, was intentionally walked to bring up McCaffrey.

“That’s how great teams are built,” UH coach Rich Hill said of the Anteaters. “You can’t really pitch around guys.”

McCaffrey said: “There’s nothing personal about that intentional walk. I know how good those players are ahead of me. I was warned that was going to happen once that wild pitch happened. I wanted to have a team at-bat. With two outs, I wanted to do whatever it takes. Loud crowd, everything’s roaring, just to be able to quiet everything down and focus on a pitch.”

After McCaffrey’s insurance RBI, the Anteaters added two more runs on Will Bermudez’s double to left.

“There were a lot of positives,” Hill said of the ’Bows’ comeback attempt. “Being down 8-1 early, and knocking your ace out of the game, this team could have folded, could have quit. They just scratched, couple here, a couple there, pulled within one. They made some pitches late in the game and we didn’t. That was the difference in the game, really.”

For the second night in a row, the ’Bows took a 1-0 lead, this time on Miyao’s RBI groundout in the second inning. And once again, the Anteaters used the long ball to vaporize their deficit the following inning.

UCI’s Luke Spillane drew a walk to lead off the third, went to second on a balk assessed to Randy Abshier, and scooted to third on Woody Hadeen’s single. One out later, Kendle’s sacrifice fly to right brought home Spillane with the tying run. After Martinez singled, McCaffrey hit an opposite-field drive over the fence in right center to give the Anteaters a 4-1 lead.

“It felt good, especially at this field, (where) it’s hard to do,” McCaffrey said. “We had a good scouting report on the guy (Abshier), and we were able to execute it. I’m happy we scored.”

The Anteaters added four more runs in the fourth, with Kendle’s run-scoring single and Martinez’s two-run double providing the timely hits.

But the ’Bows chipped away with a two-run fourth. DallasJ Duarte’s groundout plated Miyao, and Ben Zeigler-Namoa came home on passed ball.

In the bottom of the fifth, the ’Bows filled the bases. Miyao and Zeigler-Namoa each had RBI singles. Duarte’s sacrifice fly closed the ’Bows within 8-6.