Defense, pitching and execution offense.

The three basic principles Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso stressed repeatedly during the preseason were all top notch Thursday night in the Rainbow Warriors’ 4-1 win over West Virginia to open a four-game series at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hawaii starter Brendan Hornung tossed seven scoreless innings; UH did not commit an error, and it manufactured runs in the seventh and eighth innings to even its record at .500 (5-5) while snapping a five-game winning streak by the Mountaineers (5-2).

“That’s our first complete game in all phases, which is what you shoot for,” Trapasso said. “We pitched well … I thought we played tremendous defense and we scored enough to win.”

After blowing ninth-inning leads of at least two runs in three of its past six games, Hawaii found itself in the same situation again in front of a crowd of 902.

UH led 3-0 in the eighth when the Mountaineers plated a run on Jackson Cramer’s two-out single to drive in Darius Hill.

Hawaii, which scored on Jacob Sheldon-Collins’ sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, added another when Kobi Candaroma stole home with two outs in the eighth. Josh Rojas was caught off first base on a pickoff attempt but took off for second, forcing Cramer at first to make a quick decision.

He tried to get Candaroma at the plate, but the UH freshman beat the throw to make it 4-1.

Senior Cody Culp, who came in for Hornung to start the eighth, punctuated his second save with his third strikeout to end it.

“I had a feeling if we got that deep into the game with our starter going that long, I’d be one of the guys,” said Culp, who has allowed one run in 81⁄3 innings. “It was a mistake pitch that let (Hill) get the double and score, but it’s all right when we’re able to come back and put a run on the board.”

Hornung (2-2) pitched seven innings for the second straight start and scattered four hits while tying a career high with six strikeouts.

The only leadoff batter to reach base for West Virginia came in the seventh inning when Marques Inman reached on an infield single.

The Mountaineers had a runner on second with one out, but again came up empty when Hornung painted an 0-2 fastball on the corner to punch out Jimmy Galusky on his 99th pitch.

“It’s always nice to take an early lead like that and get a win at home when you’re back from a series on the road,” said Hornung, who walked a season-low one. “Each game I’m always learning something, and of course I have a lot to still work on, but whatever sign Kekai (Rios) threw down I just tried to throw it and not walk anybody.”

Sheldon-Collins extended his hitting streak to nine games with a two-out single in the second inning to give UH a 2-0 lead off West Virginia starter Chad Donato (0-2).

Donato, who hadn’t walked a batter in his first two starts, walked five in 61⁄3 innings, with three coming in the first two innings.

UH turned the second one into a run when Rojas scored on a groundout by Rios, who went 1-for-3.

Rojas took second on a single by Johnny Weeks and a passed ball moved the runners up, allowing Rios’ grounder to score a run.

Matt LoCoco kept the inning alive, working a six-pitch walk, and Sheldon-Collins fought off two tough pitches before dumping a single into right field to drive in Weeks.

Donato threw 27 pitches in the inning and West Virginia fell behind in a game for the first time since the season opener against Charleston Southern.

“I was trying to get a fastball and I think I got four curveballs to start (the at-bat) off,” Sheldon-Collins said. “Once I got to two strikes, I just had to put it in play and fortunately I was able to get the end of the bat under one and get it into play. It had to be a scrappy at-bat.”

First baseman Eric Ramirez drew a two-out walk in the first inning and has reached base in every game this season.

Weeks singled, drew two walks and scored twice.

The teams finished with seven hits apiece.

Hawaii 4, West Virginia 1

E–None. DP-1. LOB–West Virginia 8, Hawaii 7. 2B–Hill, Huth. SH–None. SF–Sheldon-Collins. SB–Candaroma. CS-None.

WP–None. BK–None. Umpires–(Plate): Scott Higgins. (First): Rob Hansen. (Third): Eric Petersen. T–2:27. A–902.