RENO, Nev. — Just about every problem that plagued Hawai'i's baseball team all season came to haunt it in last night's 8-6 loss in 11 innings in an elimination game of the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament at Peccole Park.

The fifth-seeded Rainbows, the third team ousted from the six-team double-elimination tournament, end their season at 34-25. It was the eighth meeting between the teams this season, with Nevada winning six, including the last five, all at Peccole. The Rainbows went 13-14 since April 1.

"It sucks to lose," said Jayson Kramer, whose 7 1/3 innings of relief kept UH in the game. "It hurts right now."

Painful was the way the Rainbows played because it was symbolic of their season. A less than quality start by Matt Daly put UH in early hole, a base-running gaffe cost it at least a run and the bullpen's inability to close an inning negated the Rainbows' rally from a 6-0 deficit.

"It was our Achillies' heel throughout the last month of the season that came up again today: starting pitching and being able to close things out," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

Chris Siewert, who sat out Friday's game against San Jose State after hurting his hand when he was hit by a pitch against UH, singled in the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th.

Kramer (3-4), who had allowed only one run, hit Nick Sansone to start the 11th. That's when Trapasso went to closer Tyler Davis. But David Ciarlo's single to center sent Sansone to third. Siewert then grounded a single to left that scored Sansone and moved Ciarlo to second.

Jason Sadoin's sacrifice attempt turned into a force at third before Davis was pulled for the left-handed Nick Rhodes to face the left-handed hitting Jason Rodriguez. But Rodriguez singled to left-center to score Siewert to make it 8-6. Rhodes then got Shaun Kort to ground into a double play.

That all happened two innings after Hawai'i catcher Landon Hernandez drilled a two-run home run to left-center — his fourth homer of the season and second in as many games — off Matt Renfree in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Kramer deserved a better fate. He was charged with two runs, five hits and a walk with three strikeouts, working the longest of the four pitchers UH used.

"He gave us a chance to win," Trapasso said.

Daly could only give UH 2 2/3 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits. While he deserved better in a three-run second inning, he hurt himself in a two-run third.

In the second, Daly gave up back-to-back singles to Baker Krukow and Terry Walsh. Both runners advanced on Matt Suleski's sacrifice. It appeared the Rainbows might minimize damage when Ciarlo hit a grounder to third baseman Justin Frash. Although Krukow broke on contact, he was only halfway down the line when Frash fielded the ball. Instead of throwing home for an apparent easy out, he threw wildly to first, allowing Walsh to also score. Ciarlo went to second on the play.

"He absolutely had a play (at home)," Trapasso said of Frash. "That obviously was a big part of the game. That's not what cost us the game because it's one play. Obviously, that got momentum on Nevada's side. Early in the game, you can concede the run if you're a 100 percent sure you're not going to get the out, but obviously you have to make the play at first base."

Ciarlo stole third, then scored on Siewert's sacrifice fly to right for what should have been the third out. Jason Sadoin lined out to first to end the inning.

In the third, Daly gave up three successive singles to load the bases, the last one by catcher Konrad Schmidt, who dropped a well-placed bunt between third and the mound that Daly was late in fielding. Daly appeared to get a break when Krukow hit a grounder to first baseman Kris Sanchez, whose throw home forced Rodriguez. But Krukow, apparently thinking the ball was foul, did not run and Hernandez tagged him out for a double play, leaving runners at second and third. But Walsh drilled a two-run single to center to make it 5-0 and end Daly's day.

The Wolf Pack boosted their lead to 6-0 in the fifth. Krukow grounded a single to the hole past a diving second baseman Jon Hee, who subluxed his left shoulder on the play, a problem he has had since early in the season. Hee had to leave the game and right fielder Kevin Macdonald moved to second with Matt Roquemore taking over in right. Walsh followed with a triple to right-center to score Krukow.

Meanwhile, Nevada starter Kyle Howe was cruising along until the sixth, when the 'Bows sent nine batters to plate and scored four runs. It might have been more had it not been for a base-running mistake that has hampered Hawai'i all season.

Derek DuPree led off with single and took second when Roquemore reached on a bunt single to third. Eli Christensen then lined a single to right. Third base coach Keith Komeiji held up DuPree, but Roquemore, apparently not watching his coach, kept on going to third, where he was caught in a rundown for the first out. Instead of having the bases loaded, the Rainbows had runners at second and third.

Frash's single to left scored DuPree and sent Christensen to third. Sanchez walked to load the bases, setting up Macdonald's two-run single to left that made it 6-3. After a passed ball sent the runners to second and third, Brandon Haislet singled to short to score Sanchez. Vinnie Catricala popped to short to end the inning.

"Roquemore just ran with his head down," Trapasso said. "It's a mental mistake and it cost us."

After Howe's six innings (four runs, eight hits), Jarad Mitchell went one-third of an inning before giving up a lead-off walk and a sacrifice. Renfree came in to get the final two outs to end the seventh.

Renfree remained in the game to close out UH, but not before yielding a leadoff single to Catricala in the ninth. Jorge Franco came in to run for Catricala. Hernandez then homered to left-center to tie it at 6, but Renfree retired the next seven in a row.

Then, with one out in the 11th, Franco singled and took second on Hernandez's single to short to put the tying run on base. But DuPree grounded to second for a season-ending double play. Renfree (5-0) allowed two runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.

The Rainbows needed to win to play a second game last night with a chance to reach today's championship against top-seeded and defending champion Fresno State. The Bulldogs beat San Jose State, 6-2, earlier in the day to advance as the only unbeaten team.

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing season for the Rainbows, who were picked to finish tied for first with Fresno State for the league title. It was a veteran club with four position starters and two starting pitchers back from last year's squad that finished runner-up in the WAC tournament and earned an NCAA at-large regional bid.

"I can't say enough about our kids in the way they were able to fight back when everybody else had us left for dead," Trapasso said. "We bid our seniors farewell and we'll go back to work. I'm disappointed about the way we played down the stretch. I'm disappointed in the way we pitched in the last month of the season. I'm disappointed in the way I coached down the stretch. We need to do a better job. We'll start working on that tomorrow."

NEVADA 11, SAN JOSE STATE 9: Hawai'i's Chris Balatico, a Mililani High School graduate, drove in two runs for the Spartans, but it wasn't enough as the host and second-seeded Wolf Pack advanced to today's championship against top-seeded and defending champion Fresno State.

San Jose State (34-26) was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament.

The Wolf Pack (35-25), coming out of the losers' bracket, must win twice today to win the tournament championship, which also carries the league's only automatic regional berth.

Balatico had an RBI single in the fourth-seeded Spartans' three-run third and an RBI double in the sixth. It was the final collegiate game for the senior outfielder, who played two seasons with the Spartans.

"We just didn't play good enough," Balatico said. "We didn't play well. We didn't deserve to win. They won the game. They deserve to play tomorrow."

The usually fundamentally sound Spartans committed five errors; they led all WAC teams in fielding percentage entering the tournament for all games.

After Balatico doubled, he was thrown out trying to score from second on a single. The 165-pound Balatico was no match for 210-pound Nevada catcher Konrad Schmidt.

"He had the plate blocked pretty well and I wasn't going to try to take him out," Balatico said. "I went legs first, shin-to-shin. I ended up coming up (short). But that's baseball."

Mario Rivera (5-1) allowed three runs in six innings of relief for the Wolf Pack. Matt Renfree picked up his third save, getting the final two outs with strikeouts after his 4 2/3 innings of relief the previous game against UH. Renfree came in for Rivera, who gave up back-to-back homers to Ryan Angel and Kyle Bellows in the bottom of the ninth that pulled SJSU within two. It was Bellows' second homer of the game.

Loren Moneypenny (3-11) gave up four runs in three innings of relief for SJSU.

FRESNO STATE 6, SAN JOSE STATE 2: Tanner Scheppers went 7 2/3 strong innings and Brian Lapin drove in three runs to lead the top-seeded Bulldogs into today's championship.

Scheppers (6-5) allowed a run, six hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Jason Breckley gave up a run in the final 1 1/3 innings.

Josh Amberson (4-1) gave up five runs, four hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

Lapin gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first, but the Spartans tied it in the fourth on Brian Yocke's RBI single.

Fresno State broke away with a four-run fifth, highlighted by Lapin's two-run home run.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.