‘Bows move within a game of first

The nation’s top scoring offense had no answer for Hawaii’s most-experienced pitcher.

Senior Matt Sisto held New Mexico State to one run over seven innings and Collin Bennett went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs to lead the Rainbows to a 5-2 victory over the Aggies on Thursday night.

A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,475 witnessed the Rainbows (26-18, 6-4 Western Athletic Conference) pull within a game of New Mexico State (30-15, 7-3) for first place in the WAC.

Sisto (8-3), who moved into third place all-time with his 53rd start, added to an already career year with his eighth victory, allowing five hits over seven innings with two walks and four strikeouts.

"I had a good outing tonight — kept us in the game, and put up a lot of zeroes," said Sisto, whose 3201⁄3 innings is now the eighth most by a Rainbow. "I was definitely flirting with danger (walking the leadoff guy) those first two innings, but I managed to bear down the rest of the game."

The right-hander battled through a groin injury that he said first started bothering him toward the end of the fourth inning.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso brought the trainer with him to the mound in the fifth, but Sisto said he was fine.

"There’s no way I was leaving the game that early," Sisto said.

Hawaii battled through multiple baserunning blunders and failed bunts to win a series opener for the ninth time in 12 tries this year.

"We were a circus tonight, but were able to pitch and play defense," Trapasso said. "It was big for Matt to give us seven."

Tanner Rust ended the shutout bid with a two-out RBI triple off the wall in the seventh.

Sisto then got Robert Lacount to fly out to center to strand Rust on third.

"I would have sent him out for the eighth if he was fine, but he was done," Trapasso said. "That was all he could do."

Zack Swasey had three hits for the ‘Bows and Max Duval drove in a run with a bunt single in the eighth to put the Rainbows ahead 5-1.

Zac Fisher homered off Jesse Moore to lead off the ninth, but Moore retired the next three to end the game.

The Rainbows struck first in the second inning after singles by Trevor Podratz and Bennett put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Podratz was picked off at second after a missed bunt by Breland Almadova, who then grounded out to the pitcher for the second out.

NMSU starter Ryan Beck then struck out Swasey for the apparent third out, but Swasey reached on a wild pitch after his bat hit the ball as he threw it to the ground to run to first.

Beck then struck out Max Duval, but that ball also bounced off the catcher toward the UH dugout, allowing Bennett to score from third as Duval reached first.

Kyle Philips managed to squeeze a 2-2 pitch from Beck that struck out Garrett Champion to end the inning, but not before UH scored a run in one of the more unusual ways possible.

"It was a strange inning in what was a strange night for us offensively," Trapasso said. "We played like we just came off the road yesterday, but when you have those games where the team seems a little listless and there’s no energy, it really falls on the shoulders of the starting pitcher and Matt took that to heart."

Bennett delivered the big blow in the fifth with a two-run single as Hawaii scored three times to stretch its lead to 4-0.

Beck hit two batters in the inning, including Podratz with the bases loaded to force in the first run.

Bennett then grounded his second hit of the game past first baseman Rust to bring in both Kaeo Aliviado and Pi‘ikea Kitamura.

The Rainbows can move into a first-place tie with a victory in Game 2 tonight at 6:35. UH left-hander Jarrett Arakawa (5-4, 2.34 ERA) will oppose NMSU’s Adam Mott (5-1, 5.17).