HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow baseball team (4-5) fell to The Citdael Bulldogs (6-1) 12-8 in front of a crowd of 2,234 at Les Murakami Stadium Thursday. Alex Capaul (2-1) took the loss for UH while Chris Boyce (2-0) got the win for the Bulldogs. Drew Mahaffey came in to get the save.

 

Greg Garcia led the Rainbows, going 2-for-5 with three RBI, a triple and a home run. Kolten Wong added a 3-for-4 game with a run and a stolen base while Jeffrey Van Doornum and David Freitas both went 1-for-4 with a double.

 

The Citadel opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first, only to see Breland Almadova score on a balk in the bottom half of the inning, tying it at one apiece.

 

The Bulldogs added another run in the top of the third before Garcia hit a solo homer to right in the bottom of the inning, tying it again at 2-2.

 

After two runs by The Citadel in the top of the fifth got it to 4-2, Hawai'i exploded for four runs in the bottom of the sixth, with three of the runs coming off back-to-back doubles by Freitas and Van Doornum, pushing the Rainbows ahead 6-4.

 

But The Citadel answered right back with a four-run seventh inning, taking back the lead at 8-6. They would add two more runs in the eighth to make it 10-6 before a two-run triple by Garcia in the bottom half of the inning got it back to 10-8. The Bulldogs would add two insurance runs in the top of the ninth, making the final 12-8.

 

The two teams continue the series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 3:35 p.m. The final game of the series will then be played on Saturday, March 6, at 12:05 p.m.

 

-UH-