The most dominant pitcher in the Western Athletic Conference this season couldn't stay true to form.

Hawaii's Josh Slaats was roughed up for six runs and didn't record an out in the third inning as Nevada pounded away for an 8-4 victory over the Rainbows last night in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,985.

Senior Chris Garcia (5-2) set a career high with nine strikeouts in seven innings and allowed one run on five hits to pick up the win.

Hawaii (21-21, 4-9) remained a game behind Sacramento State in last place in the WAC while Nevada (23-15-1, 4-4-1) leap-frogged two teams into third with its third win in four games.

Slaats entered the game leading the WAC and seventh in the country with a 1.71 ERA, but struggled from the outset. He walked the first batter of the game on four pitchers, but got out of the inning after catcher David Freitas threw out Kevin Rodland trying to steal second.

Slaats wasn't as fortunate in the second as Kamehameha graduate Waylen Sing Chow smashed a one-out RBI double into the gap in right-center to score Brian Barnett, who walked. Garrett Yrigoyen followed with a line drive to center that bounced over the head of Collin Bennett for a two-run triple, and Michael Turay drilled a ground-rule double to right-center to give the Wolf Pack an early 4-0 lead.

Slaats got Westley Moss to ground out to first to end the inning, but wouldn't record another out. Back-to-back walks to start the third ended his day after a season-low two innings. He allowed six runs on three hits, four walks and a hit batter to fall to 4-3 overall.

Hawaii cashed in on Jeff Van Doornum's leadoff single in the bottom of the second to get on the board. Bennett drew a walk and Kevin Macdonald smacked a one-out single through the left side of the infield to bring in Van Doornum to make it 4-1.

The Wolf Pack poured it in on the third. After the two walks ended Slaats' day, Alex Capaul allowed consecutive singles to Barnett and Cullen Mahoney which made it 5-1. Sing Chow struck out on a 1-2 curveball for the first out and Yrigoyen bounced into what looked like an inning-ending double play.

Macdonald fielded the grounder at first and ran to the bag before throwing home to get Nick Melino at the plate. However, first-base umpire Jim Garman said Macdonald never touched first base, keeping the bases loaded with two outs. Turay then sent the first pitch he saw deep to center for a ground-rule double that played two more runs to put Nevada up 7-1.

Nevada led by as many as seven as Rodland walked home Mahoney with the bases loaded in the fifth.

Macdonald also drove in UH's second run with a single in the eighth to score Bennett. Sean Montplaisir pinch-hit with two outs and laced a triple off of the glove of Moss in center field, who crashed into the wall, to score Greg Garcia and Macdonald. Moss stayed on the ground for a few minutes before eventually staying in the game, but the same didn't hold true for pitcher Jayson McClaren, who was pulled for Jesse Rasner.

Rasner threw three straight balls to Koissian, who then swung away 3-0 and bounced a grounder to Rodland at short who made the throw to first to end the inning.

Rasner got the first out in the nice and allowed a single to Kolten Wong before Nevada coach Gary Powers brought in closer Tyler Graham. Freitas, who was 0-for-4 on the day, laced a 3-2 pitch into center for a base hit to put men on first and second.

Graham battled back to strike out Van Doornum on a 2-2 fastball and ended it by getting Bennett to swing at a ball out of the strike zone for back-to-back strikeouts.

Van Doornum's second-inning single stretched his team-leading hitting streak to 10 games and Bennett singled, scored a run and walked three times to extend his hitting streak to six.

Capaul settled down and went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Harrison Kuroda worked the final two innings, allowing a two-out double to Yrigoyen in the ninth as the only hit he gave up.

Mahoney finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and Turay was 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs for Nevada.

The teams play a doubleheader today beginning at 3:05 p.m. Junior Sam Spangler (2-6, 4.38 ERA) is scheduled to oppose freshman right-hander Tom Jameson (2-1, 5.59) in the first game and senior Nate Klein (1-1, 7.68) will make his first home start in more than a month in the nightcap opposite undefeated Jeremy Cole (3-0, 3.47).