Kris Sanchez packed the punch and Matt Daly provided the punchouts to help Hawai'i knock off Georgia Southern, 5-3, last night to even the baseball series at 1.

Sanchez continued his torrid start by batting 4 for 4 with a triple and two doubles, one of which snapped a 3-3 tie in the fifth, while Daly struck out six in four scoreless innings of one-hit relief before 1,542 at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Rainbows (3-2) snapped a two-game losing streak with strong pitching from starter Mark Rodrigues (2-0), who allowed three runs, six hits and two walks with four strikeouts in five innings, and by capitalizing on four errors by the Eagles (1-1) that accounted for three unearned runs.

Hawai'i's play was a stark contrast from Thursday's opener, when it committed five errors in a 13-11 loss.

"It was real important to come back from a real ugly game," said Sanchez, who is now batting .650 (13 for 20). "We could've let down, hung our heads and just not come out with a good effort today, but in baseball, there's always tomorrow and that's what we told each other last night after the game and we came out and put together a good effort."

"It was a good effort," UH coach Mike Trapasso concurred. "I'm proud of them because as bad as we played last night, we were able to come out and play well tonight against a good club."

The game started off well for UH, which scored before its opponent for the first time with a two-run first against Eagles starter Drew Murray (0-1), who was charged with five runs (two earned). He yielded hits and five walks with seven strikeouts in four-plus innings.

With one out, Jorge Franco, who batted second after leading off the first four games, reached on third baseman Chris Shehan's fielding error, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Jeremiah Parker's throwing error on the steal attempt. He then scored on Justin Frash's sacrifice fly to center. Brandon Haislet then ripped a 2-0 pitch over both fences in left-center to give UH a 2-0 lead.

"He was behind 2-0, I was sitting dead red (and he) threw me a fastball where I wanted it," Haislet said. "It felt good and got a little more air on it and, yes, I thought it was (going over the fence)."

Sanchez followed by drilling a 1-2 pitch off the center field wall, just losing a home run, but settling for a triple.

The Eagles made it 2-1 in the second. Shehan hit a ground-rule double to right-center with one out and an out later, scored when Chris Hollis grounded a double down the left-field line.

The Rainbows added another unearned run in the third. Frash walked with one out and after Haislet struck out, Frash took second on Sanchez's single. After the second pitch to Eli Christensen, catcher Parker's pick-off throw to first was wild, allowing Frash to score to make it 3-1.

Georgia Southern tied the score in the fourth. With one out, Shehan reached on a grounder to shortstop Christensen after first-base umpire Dan Farnsworth ruled that first baseman Sanchez's foot came off the bag. Christensen was charged with a throwing error. Brian Pierce's single to left moved Shehan to second and one out later, both scored on Jeremy Beckham's double to left.

The Rainbows broke the deadlock in the bottom of the fifth. Murray walked Frash to start the inning and hit Haislet with a pitch. The right-handed Murray was pulled for left-hander Aaron Eubanks to face the left-handed hitting Sanchez, who drilled the first pitch to right-center for a two-run double that made it 5-3.

Daly replaced Rodrigues in the sixth and saw Shehan drill his full-count offering to deep center that center fielder Haislet tracked down in front of the wall, but had the ball spin out of his glove for an error. But Haislet relayed the ball to second baseman Nate Young, who fired a strike from short right-center field to third baseman Frash to nail Shehan at third for the first out.

"I think I was a little hesitant of the fence," said Haislet, a JC transfer. "Back where I came from the fence used to give a little bit, but this one is not as forgiving. But it's got to be caught and I look forward to catching some of those down the road."

Daly then retired nine in a row. He walked pinch hitter A.J. Wirnsberger with one out in the ninth and gave up his only hit when Hollis lined a single off a leaping Sanchez to put the tying run on first. But Daly struck out Beckham and retired Matt Miller on a fly to center for his first save.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.