After dropping the first three games of the series, Hawai'i got the fresh start it was seeking from Matt Sisto.

In his collegiate debut, the freshman right-hander pitched seven strong innings against No. 9 UC Irvine in a 7-4 win yesterday in front of 1,202 at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Rainbows (1-3) avoided the series sweep by the Anteaters (3-1), as well as matching the 2004 team's 0-4 start.

"That's as good an outing you could ask out of a freshman in his first outing against a top 10 team," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

An inflamed elbow caused the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Sisto (1-0) to miss most of his senior season at Cypress (Calif.) High last season. He pitched in the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League over the summer, but was on about a 50-pitch limit. So seven innings was his longest outing in a while.

Sisto allowed two runs and five hits with four strikeouts. Better yet, he didn't walk a batter in his 88-pitch outing. In fact, he had three balls in a count to only one of the 25 batters he faced. Sean Madigan ran a full count to lead off the game before grounding out.

"It was as an efficient outing you could ask," Trapasso said.

Sisto allowed more than one base runner in an inning only once. It came in the first when Ben Orloff doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Francis Larson. The other run Sisto allowed came in the third when Dillon Bell led off with a double, took third on a ground out and scored on another ground out that ricocheted off Sisto to third baseman Vinnie Catricala on a comebacker hit by Jeff Cusick.

"First inning, I was nervous," Sisto admitted. "But after that, I was having a blast."

He said he basically used fastballs and changeups.

"Keep the ball down and let them get out themselves," he said.

The defense behind him was flawless. Freshman center fielder Kolten Wong hauled in a deep drive by D.J. Crumlich, crashing into the fence and tumbling backward, in the second inning. He had scratches on his upper left cheek from the collision.

"I thought I had a lot of room," Wong said. "I didn't realize how close I was from the wall."

Josh Slaats pitched the last two innings, giving up two runs in the ninth. He gave up two walks, two hits and a hit batsman with four strikeouts.

"He came out without any focus and was really tentative," Trapasso said of Slaats. "Maybe in the end it's good for him, giving up the two-spot in the ninth because it shows him you can't take anything for granted."

Hawai'i's offense helped by scoring its most runs of the series. Kevin Macdonald, who failed to get a bunt down in a key situation of Saturday's second game and struck out in his first at-bat yesterday with runners at second and third, led the way with three RBIs. He ignited UH's four-run third with a two-run single off UCI starter Nick Hoover (0-1), who lasted just 2 1/3 innings, giving up five runs. Macdonald also had a seventh-inning sacrifice fly.

"I had a pretty rough series, but at least we came out with the victory," Macdonald said. "We thought we should have split the series at the minimum, but I'm happy that we won today ... it wouldn't have been good if we got swept in the series. I think we're just as good as their team. If they're ranked No. 9, coach (Trapasso) said we're not far behind. We're right there."

Trailing 1-0, the Rainbows scored twice in the bottom of the first. Wong led off with a walk, took second while going with the pitch that Greg Garcia grounded out to first, and scored on Catricala's single to left-center.

After Jeffrey Van Doornum's ground-rule double to right, Macdonald struck out, but a wild pitch with Christian Johnson at the plate scored Catricala to put UH ahead 2-1.

The Rainbows sent eight batters to the plate in a four-run third. Garcia walked and Catricala was hit by a pitch and both advanced when Van Doornum grounded out softly to third. Both then scored on Macdonald's single to end Hoover's day.

Later in the inning with two out, Landon Hernandez hit an RBI double followed by an RBI single by Shane Hoey to make it 6-1.

The Anteaters added a run in the fourth and UH didn't respond again until the seventh against UCI's second reliever Cory Hamilton. Catricala doubled to left, took third on a groundout to short and scored on Macdonald's sacrifice fly to deep center to make it 7-2.

The Anteaters got two in the ninth, but never got the potential tying run into the batter's box.

The Rainbows leave tomorrow for the Dairy Queen Classic at The Metrodome in Minneapolis. They will play host Minnesota (twice), Washington and UC Santa Barbara. The first Minnesota game on Thursday is not part of the tournament.