DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Ian Harrington, UH's starting pitcher, left the game with a 4-2 lead after seven innings, but LaTech came back to win.

Louisiana Tech keeps unlucky Hawaii winless in WAC

The Bulldogs benefit from a UH meltdown in the eighth inning

The Hawaii Rainbows could not have picked a more detrimental time to lose their first home series of the season.

Louisiana Tech won the Western Athletic Conference series yesterday with a three-run, eighth-inning rally that gave the Bulldogs a 5-4 victory in front of 868 fans at Les Murakami Stadium.

It was the first time the Rainbows (18-8 overall, 0-2 WAC) had lost in 15 games this season when they held the lead after seven innings.

"We played just well enough to get beat. We gave up crooked numbers in two innings. We just didn't get it done today," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said.

The Rainbows benefited significantly from four LaTech (11-10, 2-0) errors to take a 3-0, first-inning lead and go ahead 4-2 in the sixth, but the good fortune swung to the other side in the top of the eighth.

Mims Boyce singled to right to start the inning. That was all for UH starter Ian Harrington, who was replaced by closer Darrell Fisherbaugh. The junior right-hander was not able to retire any of the five batters he faced, although he deserved better luck.

Pinch hitter Brian Rike hit Fisherbaugh's first pitch to first baseman Luis Avila, who threw the ball into the wide-open spaces of left-center field trying for the forceout at second. Boyce scored and Rike ended up at second.

Jericho Jones walked and Amos Ramon singled to short center, loading the bases. Fisherbaugh then hit Albie Goulder with a 2-2 pitch, forcing home the tying run. Ryan Hamilton hit a soft liner to left to bring in what proved to be the winning run.

Matt Daly replaced Fisherbaugh and escaped the inning by getting two popups to first base and a fly to left.

Fisherbaugh took the loss, his first in three decisions.

"Fish didn't have anything from the start, but it was the right move. If the same situation happens tomorrow, I'll do it again," Trapasso said.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM UH's Eli Christensen was pulled off second base when the throw from first baseman Luis Avila went wide to allow Louisiana Tech's Mims Boyce to score in the eighth inning.

Louisiana Tech starter Matt Lacy hit UH leadoff batter Robbie Wilder with a two-strike pitch. Wilder advanced to third on a wild pickoff throw to first and scored on Joe Spiers' single to center.

Justin Frash was hit by a pitch, but Avila grounded into a 1-4-3 double play as Spiers moved to third.

Jones then dropped Jorge Franco's fly ball in right field for a two-base error as Spiers scored. Franco stole third and was awarded home when Boyce's throw glanced off the bat of hitter Esteban Lopez and went into the Bulldogs dugout.

Harrington breezed through the first 5 1/3 innings on 47 pitches, allowing just Hamilton's second-inning double. Then the Bulldogs struck quickly for two runs.

Boyce dumped a half-swing, one-out double down the right-field line and went to third on a groundout. Jones scored Boyce with a single to right and, on the next pitch, Ramon lined a double to center, scoring Jones.

"That was a terrible pitch. I left a fastball up and he made me pay for it," said Harrington, whose success up to that point had been getting first-pitch strikes.

Hawaii got one run back in the bottom of the inning for a 4-2 lead, again with the help of an error by Lacy.

Lopez singled to right with one out and took second on Eli Christensen's two-out single to center. Derek DuPree then hit a slow bouncer toward first that went for an infield single. Lacy, trying to field the ball, kicked it into foul territory, allowing Lopez to score.

The 'Bows had a chance in the ninth. Matt Inouye, held out of the starting lineup because of his ejection in the ninth inning Friday night, started the inning with a pinch-hit single to center field.

He was sacrificed to second by DuPree. Wilder walked. Spiers bounced the first pitch to third for the second out on a force and Frash, hitless in his last three games, was retired on a routine fly ball.

UH will try to salvage the final game of the series today at 1:05 p.m. with right-hander Justin Costi on the mound.

The Rainbows now are 4-4 in one-run games.