Hawai'i sent 10 batters in a six-run fourth inning to down New Mexico State, 8-3, tonight to assure at least a split of a four-game Western Athletic Conference series at Les Murakami Stadium.

Rhodes (2-4) pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, five hits and a walk with five strikeouts for the Rainbows (15-20 overall, 7-7 WAC). Matt Daly went 3 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out seven, for his first save.

Sebastian Vendette (0-3) gave up seven runs, eight hits, five walks and two hit batsmen in four innings for the Aggies (15-18, 4-6).

The Aggies jumped on Rhodes in the first. Joseph Scaperotta doubled to right with one out and socred on Chris Auten's long single off the right-field wall that caromed back to right fielder Jeff Van Doornum quickly to give NMSU a 1-0 lead.

The Rainbows tied it in the bottom of the first. Sean Montplaisir led off with a single to center and Derek DuPree walked. Jon Hee's fly out to right allowed Montplaisir to take third, where he scored on Brandon Haislet's single to left.

Hawai'i regained the lead when 10 batters went to the plate in a six-run fourth inning. Greg Garcia led off with a single and Landon Hernandez and Montplaisir were hit by pitches to load the bases to set up DuPree's sacrifice fly to right to make it 2-1. With Hernandez breaking for third on the pitch, he scored on Hee's single to left, as Montplaisir stopped at second. The runners advanced when Haislet grounded out to third. Van Doornum walked to reload the bases to set up Macdonald's two-run single to left to make it 5-1. With runners at first and second, Vinnie Catricala ripped a two-run double to right increasing UH's lead to 7-1.

The Aggies score twice in the sixth, chasing Rhodes in the process. Richard Stout led off with a walk, took second on Scaperotta's single and scored on Auten's second RBI single of the game. After Tyler Hardt's fly out to center advanced Scaperotta to third, Rhodes was pulled for Matt Daly. With runners at the corners, Joe Leghorn walked to load the bases. Daly struck out Macus Quade, but walked Frank Busani to force home a run to make it 7-3 before pinch hitter Leo Aguirre struck out to end the inning.

Hawai'i added a run in the seventh. Catricala reached first on second baseman Bryan Marquez's fielding error, Garcia walked and Hernandez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After falling behind 2-0 on Montplaisir, Kyle McFadden was pulled for Frankie Duran, who got Montplaisir on fly out to shallow left. DuPree reached on a what essentially turned out to be a force at second when shortstop Stout dropped pop behind second, but was able to force the runner at first, as Catricala scored to make it 8-3.