"You can't ask a lot more from guys on opening night against a very good club," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

Bauer (1-0) gave UH seven innings of six-hit ball, allowing a run with no walks and three strikeouts. Guy McDowell allowed two hits and a hit batsman in two scoreless innings of relief for the save.

"It's always nice when a big-name school comes in here and to beat 'em," said Bauer, who used 78 pitches.

"He gave us a Ricky Bauer outing," Trapasso said. "He's a special kid."

Greg Kish led UH's five-hit attack by batting 2 for 3 with three RBIs. Freshman shortstop Joe Spiers, the leadoff hitter, was 1 for 2 with two walks, two runs and a steal.

Ricky Bauer

"They're a good hitting club and exposed everything that was up (in the strike zone)," Bauer said. "They hit it and the defense got me out of it."

The offense made the most of the few opportunities afforded by Alabama starter Wade LeBlanc (0-1), the national Co-Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball. The Rainbows tagged the sophomore left-hander for four runs on three hits and three walks in 4° innings. Hawai'i did the bulk of the damage in a three-run third keyed by a 10-pitch at-bat by Magana.

With one out in the third, Magana took the first two pitches and fouled off four of the next six before running the count full after nine pitches. He lined the 10th pitch to center for a single.

"Esteban (Lopez) hit the first pitch (in the previous at-bat and flied out to center), so I was just trying to slow him down," Magana explained of his at-bat. "It was like he was gliding through the game. He finally gave me something I wanted and I banged it up the middle."

Spiers walked and a wild pitch on LeBlanc's first offering to Kish put runners at second and third. After going 3-0, LeBlanc threw successive strikes to the right-handed hitting Kish, who went the opposite way with a two-run double to give UH a 2-0 lead.

"Schafer had a great at-bat," Kish said. "He's a gamer. That's what he does."

After Kish was balked to third — the first of three balks by the Crimson Tide — Matt Inouye walked to put runners at the corners. Adam Roberts squeezed home Kish to make it 3-0 and reached first safely on first baseman Zac Welch's throw home. But LeBlanc struck out Omura and got Castaneda on a ground out to third to end the inning.

The Rainbows added a run in the fifth. Spiers reached on a bunt single to first, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored when Kish grounded out to second to make it 4-0. During the at-bat, Kish said he failed to sacrifice Spiers over early in the count.

"I gotta credit Joe Spiers for running the bases," Kish said. "He got to third and gave me the opportunity to score him."

The Crimson Tide averted a shutout in the sixth. Emeel Salem led off with a single to center and one out later, took second on Kody Valverde's single to left. After Salem stole third, as Valverde held first, Evan Bush grounded out to third to score Salem. But Bauer, after a balk, struck out Gabe Scott to end the inning.

Although the plan was to have Darrell Fisherbaugh pitch the ninth, Trapasso said he let McDowell finish because he was throwing first-pitch strikes.

The series continues at 6:35 tonight. Left-hander Brandon Belcher is scheduled to pitch for Alabama against UH right-hander Stephen Bryant.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.

NOTES

A special UH Bracket Buster Doubleheader promotion will allow fans who buy a basketball ticket to receive a free ticket to the baseball game Feb. 19.

The Bracket Buster basketball game featuring UH against Wisconsin-Milwaukee will be played 3 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center.