RUSTON, La. » Hawaii’s comeback opportunity came in the eighth inning Friday.

But the Rainbows (25-17, 5-3 WAC) couldn’t capitalize this time around as they fell 9-4 to Louisiana Tech (19-23, 2-9) a night after a two-run ninth helped spark an eventual 12-inning win.

"We weren’t good in any phase today, and they were good in every phase," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We just got beaten. That might be as bad a game as we’ve played collectively in all three phases."

Still, the chance was there.

A.J. Bayus drew a leadoff walk with the Rainbows trailing 7-3 to open the eighth.

Garrett Champion and Stephen Ventimilia snuck back-to-back singles through the infield to load the bases with no outs, and Kaeo Aliviado singled to right field to drive home Bayus and bring Tech coach Wade Simoneaux to the mound.

Jamie Gilley came on in relief of Phil Maton and shut down the threat with a pair of strikeouts and a harmless flyball.

"I give credit to them," Trapasso said. "They pitched well, they played good defense, and they came out swinging."

Tech struck first with a three-run opening inning off starter Jarrett Arakawa.

Ryan Gebhardt drew a walk, Alex Williams singled up the middle, and Bre’shon Kimbell made Arakawa and the ‘Bows pay with a three-run shot deep over the wall in left-center.

Walks continued to hurt both Arakawa and Maton as the teams traded early runs.

UH designated hitter Trevor Podratz drew a leadoff walk in the second, and Breland Almadova homered to left field two at-bats later to trim the lead to 3-2, but Tech answered in the third and fourth innings.

Arakawa (5-4) hit Tech leadoff man Taylor Terrasas with a pitch to begin the third, and Terrasas eventually scored on a Kimbell sacrifice fly to center.

"This is a good offensive club in an offensive park," Trapasso said. "If you don’t pitch and make the plays and then you walk leadoff guys, you’re just askin’ for trouble, and we asked for it, and we found it."

The biggest blow arguably came in the fourth when two Bulldogs reached base safely on bunts, as Tech capitalized on four hits, one error and a hit-by-pitch to extend the lead to a 7-2 margin from which Hawaii couldn’t recover.

The inning was Arakawa’s last as he suffered the 32⁄3-inning loss, giving up six earned runs (seven total) on eight hits and two walks.

"That’s our hot pitcher, and they hit him all over the place," Trapasso said. "They came out ready to play, and they were very good, and we weren’t in any phase, so we’ve just gotta flush it and come back tomorrow."

Ventimilia doubled to right field in the sixth and scored on an Aliviado groundball, and Bayus scored on the Aliviado single in the eighth.

But those were the only advances the ‘Bows could make on the scoreboard.

Maton (6-4) earned the win with seven strikeouts in seven innings, in which he allowed four runs — three of which were earned — on six hits and one walk.

Aliviado and Ventimilia each finished 2-for-4 at the plate, and Aliviado and Almadova each drove in a pair of runs.

"We’ve had bad games before," Trapasso said. "What you’ve gotta do is be resilient and come out and just try to play better — which shouldn’t be hard because we’re not gonna play any worse than what we did today."