Rob Musgrave toyed with a perfect game into the seventh inning and a no-hitter into the eighth, and No. 12 Wichita State downed Hawai'i, 7-1, last night in the opener of a nonconference baseball series at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 1,964 — the largest of the season — saw Musgrave (2-0) lose his perfect game with two outs in the seventh on a fielding error by All-America second baseman Damon Sublett, then lose the no-hitter and shutout on a two-out double by Landon Hernandez in the eighth that scored Evan Zimny, who reached on a walk. The junior left-hander was pulled after the double. He went 7 2/3 innings, allowing a run, one hit and a walk with five strikeouts to help the Shockers (6-2) win their sixth in a row.

"That was really fun," said Musgrave, who allowed a run in seven innings last week in beating Pepperdine, 3-2. "I was able to throw all three pitches for a strike today to keep the hitters off-balanced."

Being early in the season for the Shockers — this was Musgrave's second start, compared to UH starter Ian Harrington's fifth — Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson said he had a pitch-count ceiling of about 80 to 85 pitches for his starter. When Musgrave left, he was at 94.

"That's because he still had the no-hitter," Stephenson said about extending his starter.

Stephenson said had Musgrave still had the no-hitter after the eighth, he would have sent out another pitcher in the ninth.

"You hate to take a guy out, but I couldn't have let him go the ninth," Stephenson said. "He was going to approach 100 pitches, and it's too early in the year. I can't take that chance. It's not that important."

Jared Simon pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing an infield single to pinch-hitter Derek DuPree before retiring the last four batters in a row.

"I'll tip my hat to Musgrave," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "I give him all the credit in the world. That's an outstanding job."

But Trapasso also sees a challenge for UH (9-4).

"I'm anxious to see how we react tomorrow," he said. "When somebody comes up to you and takes your lunch money and punches you in the mouth, how are you going to react? Are you going to run home or are you going to fight back tomorrow?"

Harrington (2-3) might not have been perfect, but stayed with Musgrave through four. But in the fifth, the Shockers had runners at first and second with one out when Tyler Weber hit a high chopper to third baseman Justin Frash. The ball bounced under his glove, allowing both runners to score to give WSU a 2-0 lead.

"He lost it in the lights," Trapasso said of the chopper to Frash. "It went under his glove and the base runner kicked it, and that allowed 'em both to score. That's just bad luck."

The Shockers added a run in the sixth on Conor Gillaspie's RBI single, and three more runs in the seventh. An RBI single by Andy Dirks ended Harrington's night. Craig Johnson came in and served up a two-run home run to Derek Schermerhorn that made it 6-0. They added a run in the ninth on a ground out by Sublett.

Meanwhile, Musgrave kept mowing down the Rainbows, retiring the first 20. There were some hard-hit balls, like Zimny's fly to deep right that was caught on the warning track by right fielder Matt Brown. Hernandez also had a deep flyout to center in the sixth. Also, third baseman Gillaspie made a nice play on Nate Young's bunt down the third base line in the sixth.

"The defense all around played really good," Musgrave said. "Conor picked up that bunt down the line and the outfielders played really good. They got to some balls on the warning track. I was really proud of the defense today."

When the error spoiled the perfect game, he wasn't worried.

"Errors happen," he said. "It wasn't that big of a deal. I was trying not to think about the situation. I just tried to go out and get the next guy."

When he lost the no-hitter in the eighth, he felt a little spent.

"I think I might've started to get a little tired," he said. "I felt all right. When that guy got on (Zimny's walk), I didn't change my approach or anything. I left a pitch up (to Hernandez)."

Young started the game at designated hitter last night against the left-hander Musgrave. With right-hander Aaron Shafer (1-1) slated to start for WSU tonight, Trapasso said the left-handed hitting DuPree will start at DH. The Rainbows will counter with left-hander Mark Rodrigues (4-0). Game time is 6:35 p.m.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.