Matt Sisto was a pitcher of efficiency and Vinnie Catricala continued his ascent on the career home run list to help Hawai'i hold off Utah Valley, 4-1, last night.

Sisto (5-4) tossed seven shutout innings, scattering eight hits, while walking none and striking out four for the Rainbows (31-22), who took a 2-0 lead in the four-game, non-conference series before 2,025 at Les Murakami Stadium.

Meanwhile, Catricala ignited the Rainbows' offense with a pair of solo home runs, giving him 12 on the season and 19 in his three-year career, moving him to fifth on UH's all-time list.

Sisto, a freshman, threw 98 pitches before giving way to another freshman, Connor Little, who gave up a solo homer to Cole Anderson that spoiled the shutout. Little worked the final two innings.

"(Sisto) was more efficient than he's been in a few starts," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He's been solid in his last few starts, but wasn't efficient and had a high pitch count and hasn't been able to get through the lineup that third time. Today, he was able to do that."

Sisto was able to escape several jams with superb plays by the Rainbows against the Wolverines (16-35).

Second baseman Ryan Morford stopped a grounder up the middle in the third to rob Jake Rickenhoff of a single.

Center fielder Kolten Wong ranged toward right-center to haul in a drive to the alley by Ryan Jones with two outs and runners on second and third.

Shortstop Greg Garcia made a sliding stop of a hard grounder up the middle with a runner on second and threw the batter out at first in the fourth inning, which ended when right fielder Matt Roquemore chased down a fly toward the right-field line.

"There were a lot of good plays," Sisto said. "Greg made some good plays, Kolten made some plays out in center field. We were hitting timely and it all worked out well."

But it took a while for the Rainbows to chase Utah Valley starter Brock Sargent (2-9), who allowed four runs, six hits and five walks in four-plus innings.

Sargent pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the fourth, but the Rainbows were able to catch up to him in a three-run fifth as his pitch count reached 94.

Catricala gave UH a jump start with his two-out, solo home run to left in the bottom of the first inning. He led off the fifth with a towering homer to left on a 2-2 count to ignite the three-run fifth.

"The guy struck me out with a fastball in on the second at-bat," Catricala said. "So with two strikes, I figured, he caught me last time, maybe he'll do it again and it was fastball in."

Kevin Macdonald followed with a single to center and Wong walked to chase Sargent for Kole Mickolio. After Sean Montplaisir struck out, Christian Johnson and Matt Roquemore followed with successive RBI singles to make it 4-0.

The Rainbows want to play well heading into next week's WAC tournament at Murakami Stadium.

"We need the momentum going into the WAC tournament," Catricala said. "But we have to play these guys hard. They can hit the ball. We have to win all four of these games."

The series continues tonight. The game time is 7:35, an hour later than usual because of UH graduation ceremonies earlier in the day. The series concludes tomorrow at 1 p.m.