Freshman right-hander Matt Sisto pitched seven strong innings to help Hawai'i avoid a series sweep in a 7-4 win against No. 9 UC Irvine today at Les Murakami Stadium.

Kevin Macdonald drove in three runs for the Rainbows (1-3).

Sisto (1-0) allowed two runs and five hits with four strikeouts while walking none for UH. Josh Slaats allowed two runs in the final two innings in a non-save situation.

Nick Hoover (0-1) gave up five runs, four hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings for the Anteaters (3-1).

The Anteaters wasted little time getting on the board, scoring in the first. Ben Orloff doubled to left with one out. After Dillon Bell popped out second baseman Shane Hoey in shallow center, Francis Larson drilled an RBI single to center give UCI a 1-0 lead before Jeff Cusick flied out to left to end the inning.

The Rainbows took the lead in the bottom of the first. Kolten Wong led off with a walk, took second when Greg Garcia bounced out to first and scored on Vinnie Catricala's line single to left-center to tie the game at 1. Jeffrey Van Doornum's ground-rule double to right put runners at second and third. After Kevin Macdonald struck out, a wild pitch scored Catricala to put UH ahead, 2-1, and sent Van Doornum to third with Christian Johnson at the plate. Johnson hit a shot back to mound that went off Hoover to third baseman T.J. Crumlich, who threw out the batter at first for the third out.

The Rainbows added to their lead in the third. Garcia led off with a walk and Catricala was hit by a pitch. Both advanced when Van Doornum grounded out on a nubber to third. Macdonald grounded a two-run single inside third to left to make it 4-1 and chased Hoover in the process for Mat Dufour. After Johnson struck out, Hernandez doubled to left to score Macdonald to make it 5-1. Shane Hoey's single to left scored Hernandez to increase UH's lead to 6-1 before Sean Montplaisir flied out to right to end the inning.

The Anteaters got one back in the fourth. Bell led off with a double, took second on a groundout to second and scored when Cusick grounded out to third on hit that richochted off the pitcher to pull UCI to 6-2.

Hawai'i added a run in the seventh. Catricala led off with a double to left, took third when Van Doornum grounded out to shortstop and scored on Macdonald's sacrifice fly to center to make it 7-2.