Redshirt freshman Derek Dupree made his collegiate starting debut in left field and sophomore Troy Hanzawa made his first collegiate start at shortstop for the Rainbows. Then with the big lead, three other position players — Jeff Piaskowski and Robbie Nelson as pinch-hitters and Andrew Castillo at second base — made their season debuts, as well as three relief pitchers: freshman Myles Ioane, JC transfer Kyle Thomas and redshirt freshman Isaac Kamai, all left-handers.

"We wanted to put these guys in, so we put them in right out of the gate," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of the two position players making starts. "It's an interesting look that I like. We were able to make somethings happen down in the order, as far as execution, some running, bunting, hit-and-run and things like that. It gives us a little more options, so we might see a little more of that."

"They showed some real promise," UH second baseman Isaac Omura said of the players making their debut. "They went out and competed. It was a real team effort."

Stephen Bryant (1-0) allowed one hit — a first-inning RBI triple, which was the only hard-hit ball against him — and three walks with a career-high 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He wanted to get the final out in the sixth, but he was on a 90-pitch limit being early in the season.

Bryant said his change and curve were his best pitches. Both had strong breaks, fooling the Pacific batters when they struck out.

"My changeup was breaking hard and in," Bryant said. "That was my setup pitch. The curveball was my up pitch. That was my strikeout pitch."

Ioane, Thomas and Kamai allowed a run on two hits among them in 3 1/3 relief innings. Ioane, an all-state pitcher from Waiakea, got the final out in the sixth for Bryant, then escaped a second and third, no outs jam in the seventh, stranding the runners when he made a nice stop off a comebacker, and struck out the next two batters.

"Myles was outstanding," Trapasso said. "We're going to see a lot of him, not just before his career is over, but before this season is over."

Dupree, who started in left, was 1 for 4, beating out a bunt for a single. Hanzawa, starting at short for Joe Spiers, was 1 for 2, including an infield chop for an RBI single that tied the game at 1 in the third.

"I think Coach (Trapasso) was feeling everybody out," Hanzawa said.

Spiers started the game at DH and continued to shine, batting 2 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs in the lead-off spot.

Matt Inouye also had two hits, including an RBI double.

McCready had retired the first six Rainbows in order before Schafer Magana led off the third with a double off center fielder Ramon Glasgow's glove. After taking second when Dupree grounded out to shortstop behind the runner, Magana scored when Hanzawa beat out his chopper for a single. Spiers' single put runners at the corners to set up Greg Kish's squeeze that scored Hanzawa with the go-ahead run. With Kish at first, reaching safely on the fielder's choice and Spiers at second, Omura walked to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Spiers to give UH a 3-1 lead. McCready struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

But McCready hit the first two batters in the next inning with a third hit batsman four batters later ending his night. The Rainbows scored five in the inning to cushion Bryant's lead.

Inouye, who started in center field, is likely to catch today to spell Esteban Lopez. Trapasso hasn't decided who will play center.

In the game, Omura committed two errors, snapping a 44-game errorless streak dating to two seasons ago.

The series continues today at 5:35 p.m., an hour earlier than usual to accommodate fans exiting today's Bracket Buster basketball game between UH and Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the Stan Sheriff Center. Spectators can use their basketball stubs to get a ticket for the UH baseball game.

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