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Honolulu, HI - Hawaii broke a 2-2 tie with seven unanswered runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Rainbows improved to 2-3 on the year with a 9-2 win over Wagner in the Seahawks' season-opener at Les Murakami Stadium. The Green & White turned in a solid all-around effort, but could not get the bats going in the first of five games to be played between the teams this weekend.

Hawaii starting pitcher Matt Sisto (2-0) was the story of the game for the Rainbows, as the righty struck out six with 11 ground-ball outs while not walking a batter and yielding just one earned run over 8.0 frames.

Using single runs in the bottom of the first and third, Rainbows assumed the early two-run lead.

Trailing 2-0 after the first four innings, Wagner tied the game up with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Sophomore Chris Smith (Tampa, FL / Freedom / Ellsworth CC (IA)) led off with his first Wagner hit, a single to right field. Smith then moved over to second on a fielding error with freshman Mitchell Dressing (Beachwood, NJ / Toms Rivers South) reaching on a fielder's choice. Sophomore Ian Miller (Downington, PA / Bishop Shanahan) moved the pair to second-and-third with a bunt hit as Smith scored on a throwing error, slicing the deficit to 2-1 while advancing Dressing to third. On the ensuing at bat, Sophomore Cliff Brantley (Staten Island, NY / Port Richmond) tied the game up at 2-2 with a RBI ground out that scored Dressing while moving Miller to second. Miller would advance to third on a fly out but was stranded 90 feet from home when Sisto struck out senior Eddie Brown (Edison, NJ / St. Joseph's (Metuchen)) for the third out of the frame.

Hawaii immediately responded with seven runs in the bottom part of the fifth while sending 12 players to the plate. Zack Swasey's three-run double and Stephen Ventimilia's two-out, two-run triple were the big plays in the frame as the Rainbows assumed a 9-2 lead.

From that point on the Green & White's pitchers settled into a groove, allowing just one hit the rest of the way. Unfortunately on offense, Wagner could manage just three singles over the final four frames as the Seahawk hitters were limited to seven singles and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Freshman RHP Max Schmardel (Eatontown, NJ / Toms River South) had a solid collegiate debut, striking out five while limiting three runs on six hits and a pair of walks over 4.0 solid innings of work.

Elsewhere on the mound, freshman RHP Dan Watson (Howell, NJ / Howell) and RHP Ryan Carmon (Belle Mead, NJ / Montgomery) were also impressive in their collegiate debuts, striking out four over 3.1 innings of one-hit ball.

Senior Hayden Hunter (Santa Monica, CA / Notre Dame) and Miller led the way for the Green & White with each player recording multiple hits.

Ventimilia (3-for-5, 2 RBI) and Collin Bennett (2-for-4) paced an 11-hit attack for the Rainbows while Swasey provided the big hit with a three-run double in the fifth.

The loss was the 12th-straight season-opening setback for Wagner, last winning an opener in the 2000 season.

The teams resume their series on Friday, February 24 at 11:35 pm (EST) in a game that will be broadcast live Fox College Sports Pacific. All audio, stat and streaming links from today will remain the same for the rest of the weekend.