Matt Daly came within two outs of pitching a no-hitter as Hawai'i beat Hawai'i-Hilo, 8-0, last night in non-conference collegiate baseball at Wong Stadium in Hilo.

Freshman Ronel Trias' single up the middle with one out in the ninth spoiled it for Daly (5-1), who walked lead-off batter David Chu in the bottom of the first inning before retiring the next 25 batters. After a wild pitch sent Trias to second, Daly rung up Chu for his ninth strikeout and retired Michael Higa on a fly to left to end the game.

"I just figured it wasn't meant to be," Daly said of losing the no-hitter. "It's not a big deal. It's just a game. I got a lot more games to be throwing in the future."

The Rainbows (30-19) backed Daly with a 12-hit attack, led by Eli Christensen's 3-for-4 performance, including a two-run home run in a four-run fifth during which UH sent 10 batters to the plate. They also made the plays behind him on defense. Center fielder Brandon Haislet made a nice catch on a fly by Ryan Taiariol in the fifth.

"He tracked down (what would have been) a normal base hit," Daly said. "I thought it pretty much was going to fall, but with his speed, he got there."

It was the sophomore right-hander's longest outing of the season and his first complete game and shutout of his career. His longest stints this season were five innings on three different occasions. In two of those three starts, Daly used 84 pitches through five innings. Last night, he used just 105. Daly was efficient because of an effective slider that complemented his mid-90s-mph fastball.

"What was impressive was that he was throwing his slider for a strike for the first time all year," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He's always been burying his slider. Today, he was able to throw it for a strike almost at will."

Chu started the bottom of the first against Daly by taking a strike before looking at four consecutive balls.

Daly then went 3-0 on Higa, who then took a strike before bunting to move Chu to second. Daly settled nicely after that. It would not be until the wild pitch in the ninth before a Vulcan reached second base.

"I just wanted to get ahead of all the hitters, keep throwing strikes and let the defense do the job," Daly said.

Daly's performance was UH's second complete-game shutout of the season; the other was by Joshua Schneider, whom Daly had replaced in the rotation this weekend, against San Jose State. Mark Rodrigues teamed with Tyler Davis on a third shutout against nationally ranked Arizona.

"Today, (Daly) stayed within himself and just pitched," Trapasso said. "When you're throwing your slider at will today, you're looking at cutting your pitch count in half."

It was the fifth nine-inning, complete-game one-hitter in UH history.

On the other side of the ledger, starter Clayton Uyechi (2-3) was charged with five runs, five hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings for the Vulcans (12-34-1), who have dropped seven in a row.

The Rainbows took a 1-0 lead in the third on Derek DuPree's RBI double. They added four in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Landon Hernandez, Christensen's two-run shot and Haislet's RBI double.

Hawai'i added a run in the sixth when Jon Hee grounded into a bases-loaded double play against Jeffrey Germain. Vinnie Catricala's RBI single in the seventh against Karl Maas made it 7-0 and Sanchez's RBI double in the ninth made it 8-0.

With Ian Harrington going eight innings Thursday and Daly's complete game last night, the Rainbows are looking for another quality start. Rodrigues (7-2, 3.52) will pitch today's series finale for the Rainbows.

"Mark's got to be better," Trapasso said. "He hasn't been for a while. We need him to step up and pitch better because he hasn't done it in a long time."

Rodrigues hasn't gone more than five innings in his last four starts. He gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings last week against New Mexico State.

Meanwhile, the Vulcans, who end their season today, will start hard-throwing Lars Knepper (3-7, 4.46), who has 73 strikeouts in 74 2/3 innings.

Today's noon game will be broadcast on 1420 AM.