But had the Rainbows fielded the ball cleanly in the ninth inning, that call would have never been made.
The resulting 6-5 Western Athletic Conference victory for the Aztecs sets the stage for a big West Division showdown with Cal State-Northridge this weekend at Smith Field.
The Matadors lost yesterday for the second time at Fresno State to fall to 16-8 in league play. San Diego State is only a game back at 15-9, thanks to a pair of come-from-behind wins over the fading Rainbows.
Hawaii dropped to 12-12 in WAC action and into a fourth-place tie with Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs will play the Rainbows this weekend in the final home series of the season for head coach Les Murakami.
As expected, he thoroughly disagreed with the umpire's ruling that brought in Kalin Foulds from third base with the third and decisive run in the ninth.
"Even (San Diego State head coach) Jim Dietz said it wasn't a balk," Murakami said. "What made it tougher, the umpire had called time, and never signaled time back in. Then he calls the balk.
"But here's the thing. We gave them the opportunity to call the darn thing by not making routine plays in the ninth. If we field the ball cleanly, we win.
"I've got no complaints. Our kids played hard all weekend, but we're just too young to win close games like this. But next year, watch out, because we'll have the experience."
Hawaii entered the ninth holding a 5-3 advantage after rallying for three runs in the top of the eighth. Starting pitcher Robby Robinson appeared to have finally turned the corner, only to run head-on into bad luck once again.
He opened the ninth by hitting pinch hitter Michael Whatley on a 2-2 pitch. Whatley went to second on a single to left by Stewart Smothers. A shaken Robinson was lifted after he went 2-0 to pinch hitter Tod Altheide.
UH reliever Daven Hermosura came in and got Altheide to hit a perfect double play ball to Jody Napuunoa. Unfortunately for the Rainbows, the senior second baseman bobbled it. He did recover in time to get Altheide at first, but now there were runners on second and third, and one out.
"The ball was hit right to him," Murakami said. "Jody didn't even have to move."
Foulds - whose error in the eighth keyed Hawaii's three-run rally - got a measure of revenge by hitting a two-run single to center to tie the game at 5-5. He went to second on a fielding error by UH first baseman Lars Hansen, who couldn't come up with a routine grounder that should have been the last out of the game. Instead, Foulds stole third and scored the winning run on Ho's balk.
"He (umpire Matt Miller) told me that Ho leaned in to get the sign, then raised up when he shook it off and then leaned in again," San Diego State assistant sports information director Dave Kuhn said.
"It's a tough way to end the game for Hawaii."
It was the second time the Rainbows blew a close game. They had several excellent opportunities to win Friday's extra-inning matchup, only to lose, 4-3, in the 14th.
"We should have won all three, but we didn't get any breaks," Murakami said. "They shouldn't have scored those two runs in the first inning, but (UH catcher Kenn) Wakakuwa has a passed ball on a third strike. That kind of stuff has hurt us."
Foulds figured prominently in that opening inning as well.
After he struck out, the San Diego State leadoff hitter reached first safely after Wakakuwa let the ball get away. Foulds went to third on a single to right by Jason Phillips.
All-America first baseman Travis Lee lined a run-scoring shot to right to score Foulds from third.
Phillips went to second on the play and to third on a fly ball to right. He scored the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to right by David Trentine. The Aztecs extended their lead to 3-0 in the third on a solo shot to left by Lee.
Robinson settled down after that blast by retiring the next 14 batters he faced.
Meanwhile, the Rainbows chipped away at the lead with two runs in the fifth.
Napuunoa and Wakakuwa got things started with a pair of walks. Jaime Ahu moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Napuunoa scored on a groundout by Keoni Hansen and Wakakuwa came in on an infield hit by Darren Blakely.
The score remained 3-2 until the eighth when the Rainbows came up with three runs. Neal Honma drew a one-out walk. He went to second on Foulds' error of a routine grounder by Robert Medeiros.
Chris Garnett tied the game with an RBI single to center. Medeiros went to third on the play and scored on a single to center by Greg Millichap. Pinch runner Jason Ross went to third and scored the third run on a single by Napuunoa.
"At that point, I thought we had a good chance to win," Murakami said. "But we couldn't make the right plays at the right times in the ninth. It's a shame because Robby pitched one of his best games of the year."