RUSTON, La. — The record shows 29-31.

What it doesn't reveal is the heart of the 2008 Hawai'i baseball team.

The Rainbows' season came to an end last night with Nevada's 12-7 win on the third of four days of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park. Hawai'i was the fourth team eliminated from the six-team tournament. The Wolf Pack (34-25) will have to win twice today to dethrone two-time tournament champion Fresno State. The Bulldogs (36-27) need to win just one today. The tourney champion will get an automatic NCAA regional bid to be awarded tomorrow.

Though UH entered the double-elimination tournament as the second seed — and that winning became more feasible because the host team did not qualify, thus making the site neutral — pitching became more of a crucial factor. But late-season injuries forced UH to enter the tourney without three pitchers, two of them starters, one an ace who was an all-WAC selection.

"It's the character of our club, just fighting to the very end," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "I've said it before, I couldn't be more proud of these guys."

Though both UH and Nevada were 18-14 in the WAC, the Rainbows were seeded higher because of taking three of four during the regular season. But the injuries to ace Jared Alexander, the all-WAC selection, Alex Bates, another starter, and Alex Capaul, a freshman who showed promise during the season, eventually took their toll.

"It's tough to beat a team five out of six (times in a season)," Trapasso said. "Having to play them again today, we just ran out of arms with two of your starters on the shelf. It's asking an awful lot and it's disappointing because of the way we were playing down the stretch. If we had those guys it might have been a different story."

Instead, freshman Josh Slaats had the burden of staving UH from elimination against the Wolf Pack. Slaats lasted just 1 2/3 innings, allowing five runs, four hits and three walks. All-WAC third baseman Jason Rodriguez drove in four runs on a 4-for-5 night and DH Terry Walsh went 5 for 5 to lead Nevada's 19-hit assault on UH pitching.

Hawai'i fell behind 12-3 after six innings, an inning and a run away from being terminated by the 10-run differential mercy rule. Instead, the Rainbows continued to battle with pairs of runs in the eighth and ninth innings.

Senior center fielder Brandon Haislet capped a two-year career after transferring from a JC by batting 4 for 4 with two RBI to finish the season with a team-leading .389 batting average. He also led the team with 52 runs, 89 hits, 22 doubles, seven home runs, 50 RBI and 11 of 19 stolen bases.

"It's always a factor," Haislet said of the pitchers' injuries on what-might-have-been. "We were just trying to stay in the winners' bracket so we could try and last as long as we can."

Despite the adversity, the Rainbows went down swinging. Down 12-5, they scored two in the ninth. It took a nice catch by right fielder Waylen Sing Chow to haul in Jeff Van Doornum's fly ball for the last out.

"It was frustrating, but we had to deal with it all year, the injuries and stuff," UH senior shortstop Jon Hee said. "It wasn't like we could go around it (avoiding the injuries). We tackled it with what we had."

The Rainbows opened the tournament with strong pitching from Nick Rhodes in the 11-7 win against New Mexico State and Josh Schneider in the second game in a 14-5 win against Nevada. Each was supported by double-digit runs from the offense.

But their fortune turned earlier yesterday as they dug deeper into their pitching depth. In the winners' bracket game of unbeatens, Fresno State topped UH, 11-4. Starter Justin Miller (five innings, three runs) and reliever Jason Breckley (four innings, one run) combined on a seven-hitter to send UH to the elimination bracket against Nevada. Besides back-to-back home runs by Landon Hernandez and Matt Roquemore in the sixth, the Rainbows had some other hard-hit balls that were right at fielders.

"We didn't have that many hits, but we hit the ball real hard," Haislet said. "If some of those balls found the gaps, that's a couple runs here and there, it would be a complete different ball game. It could've gone either way."

Matt Daly, who battled control issues all season, was looking strong through five innings. But after the offense gave him a 3-1 lead, the Bulldogs sent 10 batters to the plate in a seven-run bottom of the sixth to regain the lead they would not relinquish. Daly (5-5) allowed six runs, seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in five-plus innings before being pulled.

Alan Ahmady had a pair of two-run homers for four RBI for the Bulldogs, while Erik Wetzel drove in three runs with a homer and two-run double.

Breckely (2-2) picked up the win in relief for FSU.

In the Nevada game, freshman Slaats (0-5) got the start, while Nevada countered with left-hander Brock Stassi (4-2), who handed UH its only loss in the four-game season series. Stassi went 7 1/3 innings, allowing five runs (four earned), six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. He got help from Dan Eastham and Stephen Bautista.

Trapasso cleared most of his bench in both games, when they appeared to be getting out of hand.

It was the final game for nine Hawai'i seniors — shortstop Hee, outfielders Haislet, Ryan Asato, Derek DuPree and Evan Zimny, and pitchers Rhodes, Schneider, Cameron Wheeler and Cory Kahn. It also might have been the last games for junior pitcher Daly and catcher Hernandez, as both are considered draft prospects.

Although there were nine seniors among the 31 players, the team was considered young. Trapasso tried to groom freshman pitchers and some positions players, while trying to win. After a 9-19 start, the Rainbows turned the second half around by going 20-12.

"I couldn't be more proud of these guys for going from 9-19 to finishing second in the league," Trapasso said. "I think it was an incredible accomplishment for this group of guys for the way they stayed with it all year. The most exciting thing is for the most part, we've got 'em all back (for next year)."