HONOLULU, Hawai'i --- UC Irvine slipped in its Big West opener doused with an 8-4 loss Friday night against the Rainbow Warriors in Les Murakami Stadium.
Brendan Hornung was masterful not allowing an earned run over 7.2 innings and getting some well-deserved run support from his Hawai'i (12-14, 1-0) teammates.
The 'Bows caught fire early with three, two-out runs in the first inning off of Elliot Surrey. The senior would gain his composure to go six innings, but allow two more runs before exiting on nine hits.
UH was rolling through seven innings with Hornung dealing a one-hitter before his defense broke down around him and UCI (15-8, 0-1) took advantage.
Alex Guenette reached on a third-baseman throwing error to start the inning. He got to third after a catcher's throwing attempt on a steal sailed into center. Back-to-back hit-and-runs helped bring home Guenette and put a pair on. Hornung got a pair of outs, but could not hold back Keston Hiura as he lifted a two-run double to center to finally chase Hornung.
The 'Eaters added another run on an error, and Andrew Martinez came up with a chance to tie the game as a pinch-hitter, but waved at strike three to end the threat.
The Rainbow Warriors wouldn't let UCI hang around either getting to the normally-reliable Ben Ritchey. After walking a pair, he got two outs before facing leadoff hitter Matt LoCoco. LoCoco blooped one to center perfectly placed between a diving Cole Kreuter and Keston Hiura to bring three home and put the Anteaters away with the 8-4 lead.
The loss marks the seventh all-time loss in 31 games to UH with all coming in Hawai'i, the first UH win in the series since 2009, and the first against the 'Eaters since joining the conference snapping a 10-game streak.
Hornung dealt for his third win allowing five hits while not issuing a walk and striking out six. Little-used Kyle Mitchell came in in a ninth-inning jam to hold UCI back and earn his first save.
Elliot Surrey allowed five runs, four earned, for his second loss on the year. The 'Eater staff allowed 11 hits with four 'Bows turning in multi-hit performances. Along with LoCoco's three RBI, Chayce Ka'aua had two, and Marcus Doi scored twice and doubled.
UH had four errors in the game, three coming in one inning, which all came back to bite them. UCI felt the pain on one of their two errors.
Hiura took advantage with two more RBIs giving him 79 in 79 career games as an Anteater. With his last at-bat of the night, he extended his streaks to 39 straight on base, 13 with a hit, and 10 road games with a hit.
Grant Palmer stuck out some brilliant at-bats being rewarded with a run and an RBI. He added an outfield assist throwing out Kekai Rios trying to stretch a double in the sixth. Parker Coss reached base for the 20th straight game and also scored.
The 2,913 in attendance got their money's worth for the Rainbow Warriors, and will look to keep it rolling on Saturday with another 9:35 p.m. game pitting righties Shaun Vetrovec and Kyle Von Ruden against each other.
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