The Hawaii baseball team answered Fresno State's no-hitter with a pitching gem of its own.

Junior Alex Capaul recorded his Western Athletic Conference-leading fifth win with a seven-hit shutout of Fresno State yesterday at Les Murakami Stadium.

A sellout crowd of 2,623 witnessed the Rainbows win 4-0 to salvage a game against the Bulldogs (20-13, 3-1), who ended the opening week of conference play atop the WAC.

Capaul, whose longest outing of his career before yesterday was 6 1/3 innings, walked one and tied a career high with five strikeouts. He threw 99 pitches (67 strikes) and struck out Bobby Coyle with runners on second and third to end the game.

“;We needed an effort like that, being as short-handed as we have been,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;We saw Alex step up and pitch the best game of his UH career in probably the most crucial time.”;

Hawaii (17-15, 1-3) avoided a sweep and stayed within two games of the Bulldogs as it prepares for its longest road trip of the season beginning Friday at Sacramento State.

The Rainbows held Fresno State to one run over the final 17 innings of the series. Capaul's only other start this season came against Air Force, a game in which he allowed five runs on seven hits.

“;Coach said if I was going to be successful (today), throw my fastball in and just locate and mix it up and keep them off balance,”; Capaul said. “;I wanted to bring out my best performance against these guys. They're the defending champs and won the World Series a couple years ago and I just wanted to get us a win to end the series.”;

Other than a Kolten Wong error in the ninth, the Rainbows played flawless defensively behind Capaul. Catcher David Freitas threw out both Fresno State runners trying to steal second and the Rainbows turned three double plays, including a key one initiated by a diving play by second baseman Wong.

Brennan Gowens led off the seventh with a single and Bobby Coyle hit a grounder up the middle that Wong dove to his right to stop. He flipped the ball to Greg Garcia, who turned the double play to empty the bases with cleanup hitter Jordan Ribera due up next.

“;We did exactly today what we were working on all week,”; Fresno State coach Mike Batesole said. “;Only three fly-ball outs and two of them were hit right on. Credit (Capaul) for pitching smart. That's how we ask our guys to pitch.”;

Garcia ended a run of eight consecutive innings without a Hawaii hit with a one-out single in the first off of FSU starter Charlie Robertson.

Wong and Freitas drew back-to-back walks and Collin Bennett hit a two-run single through the hole on the left side to give UH an early 2-0 lead.

Wong came through with an RBI single in the second and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to double UH's lead.

Robertson (2-2) didn't make it out of the fourth inning, giving up eight hits and all four runs in 3 1/3 innings to take the loss.

Three Bulldogs relievers combined to hold Hawaii hitless over the final 4 2/3 innings, but FSU couldn't break through offensively against Capaul.

“;We got better swings, but against a team like Fresno, four runs is kind of scary,”; Trapasso said. “;We've still got some work to do on the offensive end.”;

Christian Johnson had two more hits and finished 5-for-10 with a home run and three RBIs in the series.

The Rainbows leave Wednesday to begin a string of nine consecutive road games. Hawaii has a nonconfernce game against Centenary sandwiched between series at Sacramento State and Louisiana Tech.

Sacramento State had the weekend off while Louisiana Tech split a four-game set with San Jose State.