The difference between Oregon and Hawaii came down to two innings.

A day after dropping an eight-spot on the Rainbows, the Ducks, who moved to No. 24 in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll, scored seven runs in the third inning of a 12-6 victory over Hawaii on Monday to take three of four in the opening series of the season.

J.J. Altobelli set a career high with five hits and had three doubles, scored twice and drove in two runs to help Oregon (3-1) win its first series ever against the ‘Bows (1-3).

"He’s a spectacular baseball player from a baseball family," Oregon coach George Horton said. "We feel good that we’re going to be able to get out of here winning three out of four."

Oregon outscored the Rainbows 30-17 in the series, getting half of its runs in those two innings.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso got his first chance to see a team with 18 newcomers perform in front of packed crowds at Les Murakami Stadium.

UH issued more than 16,000 tickets for the four-game set, with an average attendance of 2,925 — including 2,221 on Monday.

"This is the craziest atmosphere I’ve ever played in," freshman Stephen Ventimilia said after Friday’s opener that drew 3,553.

Ventimilia drew 10 walks in the series, including three on Monday, finishing 1-for-2 with two runs scored.

Trevor Podratz added a two-run single in the third and Cody Clark singled and walked three times.

Both are also freshmen, two of six Hawaii used in the game. Of the nine freshmen on UH’s roster, eight played in the series.

"We’re finding stuff out," Trapasso said. "One excuse you can’t make is saying we’re playing a lot of freshmen, because it’s our freshmen that are doing well and competing.

"We’ve got some upper-class guys and JC guys that are struggling and those are the ones we’ve got to get better."

Senior Collin Bennett can be excluded from that list after extending his hitting streak to eight games dating back to last year.

He finished 2-for-2 on Monday and hit .500 (6-for-12) in the series.

"I’ve been swinging it pretty well trying to produce, trying to get wins," Bennett said. "It’s hard to be happy about that series. It’s actually a little embarrassing how we got beat the last two games."

Oregon took advantage of a debuting UH starter for the second straight day, roughing up left-hander Scott Squier for seven runs — five earned — in 2 2⁄3 innings.

Altobelli singled and scored to open the game, stealing two bases before crossing the plate on a two-out hit by Ryon Healy, who finished with four RBIs.

Altobelli led off the third with a double, one of six Oregon hits in the inning.

Kyle Garlick scored on a rare double steal to make it 5-0, and a throwing error by Bennett allowed three more to eventually cross the plate in the inning.

"I made an error myself I wish I could take back, but it’s pitching and defense we need to work on, because if we score six runs on eight or nine hits, we should win those games," Bennett said.

Conner George followed Podratz’s two-run single in the bottom of the inning with an RBI hit of his own to cut the lead to 8-3.

Hawaii loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth but only scored once. Pi‘ikea Kitamura’s leadoff double helped put the Rainbows in the same situation again in the eighth, but Aaron Payne caught a bullet off the bat of Breland Almadova for the first out.

Ventimilia walked in a run to make it 12-5 and Bennett lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score another before Podratz grounded into a fielder’s choice.

"We’re getting on base, but we’re not getting the hits to drive those guys in," Trapasso said. "We’ve got to start getting some of our run-producer guys going a little bit."

UH returns to the field Thursday for the first of five games in four days against Wagner College.

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