SAN JOSE, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow baseball team (27-24, 10-11 WAC) beat the San Jose State Spartans (20-33, 8-13) 5-3 in the series opener at Municipal Stadium Friday. Josh Slaats (5-3) got the win, striking out four while allowing two earned runs in five innings. Lenny Linsky picked up his 10th save of the year while Blake McFarland (6-4) took the loss for the Spartans.

 

Kolten Wong led UH offensively, going 4-for-5 with one RBI, a triple and a stolen base. David Freitas was 2-for-4 with a run while Matt Roquemore went 1-for-2 with two runs.

 

The Spartans opened the scoring, posting a run in the bottom of the third. Hawai'i responded in the top of the fourth, scoring a run on a Collin Bennett sacrifice fly to tie it at 1-1.

 

UH later took the lead in the top of the fifth as Pi'ikea Kitamura and Jeffrey Van Doornum drove in runs, making it 3-1. The Spartans answered with a run, driven in by Jason Martin, cutting it back to 3-2.

 

Wong would triple in a run in the top of the eighth, only to see SJSU answer with a run in the bottom of the inning, cutting it back to 4-3. Hawai'i added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, on an RBI-single by Kevin Macdonald, making it 5-3.

 

Linsky then put it away with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the ninth, preserving the UH victory.

 

The Rainbows and Spartans continue their series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. (10 a.m. HST). UH's magic number to clinch a spot in the WAC Tournament is now at one game.

 

-UH-