A strong start from Matt Sisto tonight would be a great ending to Hawaii's month-long, season-opening homestand.

The sophomore right-hander will try to give the Rainbows a series sweep against Air Force after Hawaii defeated the Falcons 9-5 yesterday for its third straight win.

The Rainbows' batting average jumped from .242 to .257 in three games and Josh Slaats returned on Saturday after missing a start to strike out 10 in 5 1/3 shutout innings.

A victory tonight would give Hawaii its first series sweep, and a good outing from Sisto (1-3, 8.10 ERA) would not only set up UH's pitching staff well for the upcoming road trip, but reverse a trend of two consecutive poor starts.

“;He needs to pitch better,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said.

Things continued to go well for the 'Bows yesterday, as Matt Roquemore went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Collin Bennett homered to move Hawaii's record over .500 at 10-9.

A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,527 saw Hawaii rally from a 4-0 deficit with six runs in the third inning. Roquemore capped the inning with a two-out, two-run single, and is batting .636 (7-for-11) in his last three games.

“;It was a big inning for us to get right back in the game and get the lead,”; Roquemore said. “;I wanted to try to square one up and cash in some more runs for us.”;

Hawaii had to answer the Falcons (5-15), who scored three times in the top of the inning to take a 4-0 lead. Hawaii starter Alex Capaul (4-1) allowed four consecutive one-out hits, the last a two-run single by Addison Gentry, and almost didn't make it out of the inning.

“;He was one guy from coming out,”; Trapasso said. “;Once we took the lead in the bottom of the inning I told my pitching coach I was going to ride him for a while so we don't have to bring the (bullpen) in too early.”;

Capaul lasted into the seventh, allowing Trapasso to use only Lenny Linsky in relief.

With the series finale tonight and a string of five road games in six days beginning Wednesday, it is important Hawaii's staff stays as fresh as possible.

“;You just throw until you see (Trap) come out to bring the next guy in,”; said Capaul, who allowed seven hits and five runs to record his team-leading fourth victory in his first start. “;I had nothing other than fastball command, and even on that I was missing it.”;

Linsky replaced Capaul with two runners on and gave up an RBI single to Blair Roberts, who went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and has seven hits in the series.

That trimmed Hawaii's lead to 6-5, but the Rainbows responded with three more runs.

Kolten Wong led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch that he should have been thrown out on at second. He scored on a sacrifice fly by David Freitas, and Bennett followed with a solo home run, his third of the season.

A throwing error by catcher Garrett Custons allowed Pi'ikea Kitamura to score the final run and give UH a commanding four-run lead.

“;We were able to score and answer and that was good on our part offensively,”; Trapasso said.

Linksy allowed more than twice as many hits (five) in 2 2/3 innings as he had all season in 10 innings. Matthew Roberts doubled and Roberts singled with two outs in the ninth before Linsky got Custons to ground out to earn his fourth save.

The Falcons are scheduled to start senior Michael Ruvolo (0-1, 4.50) opposite Sisto tonight at 6:35. The Rainbows leave tomorrow to play Long Beach State on Wednesday. They start a three-game series at Cal State Fullerton on Friday before wrapping up the trip with a single game at San Diego on Monday.