A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 3,299 — the largest of the season — saw the Rainbows (25-24 overall, 12-11 WAC) fall into a tie for second with the Bulldogs (26-26, 12-11), 2 1/2 games behind the Owls (14-8), a 9-3 winner at Nevada (11-11) yesterday. All a non-sweep does in the UH-FSU series is give the Owls some breathing room in the standings.

"They had to be thinking that as long as somebody doesn't sweep, it was good for them," FSU coach Mike Batesole said.

It doesn't mean either team is out of contention; it just becomes more difficult with each loss.

"To think we were going to win our last 15 in a row is not realistic," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "But to go out and play hard every single game to put yourself in a position to where you never know what's going to happen, we've done that and we've just got to keep going.

Hawai'i second baseman Isaac Omura said another win streak can be repeated.

"It's the same thing as how we started out," UH second baseman Isaac Omura said. "The odds were against us two weeks ago and we won seven straight, so I don't see why we couldn't do it again."

Several rows of fans near the UH dugout applauded the Rainbows as they returned to the dugout after their postgame meeting.

It was Fister's night, as the 6-foot-8 right-hander allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

"Fister pitched well and made some pitches when he needed to in big situations," Batesole said. "That's exactly what we needed to get done and Quinonez came in and threw strikes and finished it for him. That's what it takes to beat a quality team like Hawai'i."

Fister (6-5) had trouble in the fourth, when UH got four successive singles for one run, an RBI force out and a pick-off play throwing error by first baseman Kent Sakamoto that allowed another run that pulled UH to 4-3.

Fister was pulled after allowing a two-out, RBI single to Erik Ammon in the seventh. Quinones came in, hit the first batter he faced, but retired six of the last seven batters he faced for his fifth save. The only other runner he allowed reached on an error.

Meanwhile, UH starter Justin Costi (2-5), bumped up a day to take advantage of the lights, didn't have command like he did in his previous outing in which he threw eight shutout innings against Nevada. He was tagged for four runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout in 2 1/3 innings.

"He's an off-speed guy and was in trouble (because he had no command)," Trapasso said. "He's been good for us all year. He just didn't have it today. He couldn't locate his change and curveball."

The Bulldogs batted around in a four-run third inning against Costi.

Rich Olsen was hit for three runs in 2 2/3 innings and Steven Wright gave up a run in four innings. The RBI single was by Quinonez in the top of the ninth. It was the junior pitcher's first collegiate hit of his career.

The all-important rubber game is at 1:05 p.m. today. It is UH's final home game of the season and the team's five seniors — pitchers Stephen Bryant and Ricky Bauer, outfielders Greg Kish and Nate Thurber and infielder Schafer Magana — will be honored after the game.

Colby Summer will start for UH; Fresno State was undecided as of last night.