It was a not-so-good Friday for the University of Hawaii baseball team.

Ryan Lillie pitched seven effective innings, Michael Farris hit a three-run homer and UC Riverside took advantage of several UH mistakes for a 9-2 victory at Riverside Sports Complex.

“The story of the game was Lillie,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a postgame phone call. “That’s as good as anybody we’ve seen all year.”

Lillie mixed a 95-mph fastball and heavy slider to strike out nine, concede five hits and strand runners at second and third in the sixth and seventh innings.

The Highlanders ended an eight-game losing streak and evened this three-game series at a victory apiece entering today’s rubber game. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. Hawaii time.

“I’m disappointed with the way we played,” said Trapasso, whose Rainbow Warriors are 2-3 on this six-game, 10-day Big West trip. “It was the same book, different chapter. Walks and errors are going to get you beat.”

The ’Bows issued five walks and committed three errors, including two by shortstop Dustin Demeter. “There was nothing wrong with the field,” Trapasso said. “We’ve got a shortstop who has to start making plays.”

Of the Highlanders’ nine runs, four were earned. Demeter’s bobble enabled Mark Contreras to sprint home from third with the game’s first run in the third inning. The Highlanders’ final three runs followed a two-out error in the eighth.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance by not taking care of the baseball,” Trapasso said.

UH starting pitcher Dominic DeMiero lasted three innings, surrendering only four hits and two runs. DeMiero relies on a fastball, which is most efficient when thrown inside to right-handed batters, and a breaking change-up. But while DeMiero threw strikes — 37 on 54 pitches — his pitches were just under the zone’s ceiling.

“It’s not he didn’t have his fastball,” Trapasso said. “He didn’t have his fastball command. Everything he was throwing was up in the zone. When he was trying to throw in, he was missing middle. … It all centered around his fastball command. You can’t throw a changeup every pitch, even though it’s a good pitch.”

DeMiero exited with a 2-0 deficit. The ’Bows closed to 2-1 on Alex Fitchett’s third homer of the season. The Highlanders added a run in the fifth. In the sixth, Connor Cannon reached on third baseman Josh Rojas’ throwing error, Tony Gudino walked, and then Farris smashed a hanging slider from Jackson Rees.

“And that was it,” Trapasso said. “That’s all she wrote. … Jackson was throwing well initially until he hung that slider. You hang a slider like that, you expect it to get hit like that.”

Lillie made sure the ’Bows would not get closer. Lillie was recruited as a catcher. He followed the same path as Riverside coach Troy Percival, who was drafted as a catcher before switching to pitcher and enjoying a 14-season MLB career.

“That’s baseball,” Trapasso said. “You’re going to face a pitcher like that who’s on his game and has first-round stuff. He was painting the corners and throwing a baseball off the corners. … The scouting report was a lot of times he struggles throwing the slider for a strike, so you just spit on it and sit on the fastball. But he was throwing the slider for a strike.”