Nick Rhodes pitched a six-hitter and Vinnie Catricala extended his hitting streak to 15 games and drove in two runs to help Hawai'i beat Sacramento State, 3-1, in the opener of a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader today at Les Murakami Stadium.

Rhodes (4-4) pitched his third complete game, allowing a run and a walk with four strikeouts to help the Rainbows (23-24 overall, 15-11 WAC) earn at least a split of the four-game series.

Trevor York (4-5) went seven-plus innings, allowing three runs, nine hits and four walks for the Hornets (19-26, 10-11).

The Hornets broke the scoreless game in the sixth. Taylor Watanabe led off with a walk, took second on Ryan Blair's sacrifice and scored on David Flores' single to right-center to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.

The Rainbows took the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Jeff Van Doornum singled up the middle with one out and took third on a hit-and-run single to right by Kevin Macdonald. The hot-hitting Catricala hit a ground single to left to score Van Doornum to tie the game at 1 and move Macdonald to second. Greg Garcia walked to load the

bases and Landon Hernandez followed with a sacrifice fly to center that also moved Catricala to third and put UH ahead, 2-1.

Hawai'i scraped for insurance in the eighth. Van Doornum led off with a double and took third on Macdonald's single to right-center. York was lifted for Jeff Roth and Catricala's flare single to left-center scored Van Doornum to increase UH's lead to 3-1.