The Rainbows (22-23 overall, 9-10 WAC) picked up a half-game in the standings, moving to within 2 1/2 games of first-place and idle Rice (11-7) and moving into a fourth-place tie with Fresno State (7-8). The Wolf Pack (20-18, 9-7) fell one game behind the Owls.

It also was UH's fourth consecutive win, all errorless games.

"Defense has been holding us," UH catcher Esteban Lopez said.

But it was the offense that came through big time, led by Lopez, who was 2 for 5 with three RBIs, including a two-run single that tied the game at 4 in the sixth. He also had an RBI single in the seventh. Lopez said he waited on the pitch that he hit for the two-run single.

Hawai'i's Matt Inouye fouls off a pitch from Nevada's Tim Schoeninger in the second inning. The Rainbows rallied from a four-run deficit to win the Western Athletic Conference series opener. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

UH's Ricky Bauer (4-3) pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks with one strikeout. He had an 11-5 lead entering the ninth, when he allowed four runs. Rich Olsen struck out David Ciarlo for the final out for his second save.

Bauer had faced seven batters in the inning. He had given up three runs before getting the second out, but walked Shawn Scobee, who scored on Terrence Walsh's double before being pulled for Olsen.

"We didn't want to go to the pen," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of leaving Bauer in after the walk to Scobee. "But that happens. We just asked Rick to get one more out. But he was struggling with it and at that point with the tying run coming up to the plate, we weren't going to take any more chances."

Hawai'i starter Stephen Bryant actually pitched better than Bauer, but left the game trailing 4-0. Bryant allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks with nine strikeouts.

But for UH, a win in any form is what it needed to keep its pennant hopes alive.

The Wolf Pack took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI ground out by Baker Krukow and a solo home run to dead center by Scobee. They padded their lead with an RBI single by Matt Bowman in the fifth and RBI single by Chris Madrid in the sixth that made it 4-0. Madrid's single ended Bryant's outing. Bauer came in and made a nice play to nail a runner at the plate on a squeeze play then got the third out by getting Bowman on a grounder to third.

Then the Rainbows' bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth. It started with a lead-off walk by Erik Ammon and an out later, a double by Nate Thurber put runners at second and third. Schafer Magana and Adam Roberts each followed with RBI singles to pull UH to 4-2. An out later, Lopez's two-run single tied the game at 4, ending the night for Nevada starter Tim Schoeninger (4-6), who allowed five runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Chris Scott struck out Derek Dupree, but the swinging third strike was a wild pitch, putting Dupree aboard as Lopez took second. Joe Spiers walked to load the bases and Ammon walked to force in the go-ahead run. An error scored the sixth run of the inning.

The Rainbows got it going in the seventh with RBI singles by Lopez, Dupree, Spiers and Isaac Omura. An error on Spiers' single also plated a run.

"It's the first time all year we've batted around in back-to-back innings," Trapasso said.