"The hero tonight was Steven Wright," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "The guy was unbelieveable. It's a big, big win for him because he's a hard luck loser. Jose Castaneda coming up big, that's a team win right there."

In the bottom of the ninth, Luis Avila led off with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Andrew Castillo. With FSU expecting a bunt with the corner infielders charging, Matt Inouye chopped at Tyler Chambliss' first pitch and bounced it through the left side for a single that sent Castillo to second.

"With the corners crashing, I had nowhere to bunt the ball," Inouye said. "I just had to chop it on the ground."

Rocky Russo tried to bunt, but popped out to the first baseman.

Castaneda then pinch-hit for Derek Dupree, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in left field for starter Jeff Piaskowski. Castaneda drilled a 1-1 pitch up the middle that kicked off second base into center, sending Castillo sliding home with the winning run, bringing a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,321 to its feet.

"We're playing with toughness," Castaneda said. "We're on a roll. Nobody can stop us now."

UH tied it at 6 in the eighth. With two outs, Joe Spiers reached on second baseman Tony Thomas Jr.'s fielding error, stole second and scored when Erik Ammon reached first on another fielding error by Thomas. On the play, Spiers just kept going, even though the ball was still in the infield, beating the throw home.

"There was no doubt in our mind we would win," said Spiers, had four steals last night. "We were down early, but we still had time. It was just a matter of time."

It was all Wright after UH trailed 5-0 when he came in for starter Ricky Bauer with one out in the third.

"It was so early that we knew if we could put up some zeroes and settle the game down, you hope you could chip away," Trapasso said.

"I tried to put doughnuts up on the board and leave it up to the hitters," Wright said. "Every inning I went out there, I felt I was getting stronger. I felt I could've gone on forever."

Bauer lasted just 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing since he went 1 2/3 against Sacramento State on Feb. 16, 2003. Bauer was charged with five runs on seven hits, walking and striking out none. It was the second time in three starts this season he has not gotten out of the third inning.

Florida State starter Barret Browning (3 2/3 innings), sidewinder Kevin Lynch (3 1/3) and Chambliss (1/3) were charged for a combined seven runs, but only two were earned because of four errors and a passed ball. Chambliss (4-1) was charged with the loss.

Hawai'i batters were credited with driving in only two of the seven runs: Russo's RBI single in a three-run seventh that pulled UH to 6-5 and Castaneda's game-winning hit.

In the bottom of the third, Spiers reached on a chop single to second with one out. An out later, he stole second and was breaking for third before Browning threw a wild pitch to Isaac Omura, allowing Spiers to score.

The Seminoles got that run back in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Shane Robinson, who was 3 for 5, extending his hitting streak to 29 games.

In the bottom of the fourth, one-out singles by Russo, Piaskowski and a fielding error that allowed Greg Kish to reach first loaded the bases. After Schafer Magana popped out to center, a passed ball scored Russo to make it 6-2 and end Browning's night.

Lynch had the Rainbows handcuffed for most of his 3 1/3 innings. But with two outs in the seventh, he walked Omura and Avila. Inouye then hit a grounder to short, but shortstop Nick Francis' throw to first was wild, allowing Omura to score and Avila to reach third. A wild pitch scored Avila and sent Inouye to second, where he scored on Russo's single to make it 6-5.

The Rainbows will try for their first sweep of the season in today's 1 p.m. series finale. Right-hander Justin Costi is scheduled to pitch for Hawai'i.