Pi‘ikea Kitamura knew he didn’t need much with the speedy Stephen Ventimilia representing the winning run at second.

Kitamura dropped a single in front of center fielder Brett Morgan to score Ventimilia with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning to give Hawaii a thrilling 5-4 victory over UC Davis on Saturday night.

Kitamura thrust his arm into the air as his second hit of the night landed in front of Morgan to send a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,632 home happy.

"Just like any other at-bat I was looking for a pitch to hit back up the middle and take the pressure out of it," Kitamura said. "I knew Steve-o was at second and in my mind I was thinking just let (the ball) fall."

Hawaii won its second extra-inning game of the season to improve to 16-12 overall and take a 2-1 series lead.

Ventimilia reached base five times, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored as the Rainbows shook up their lineup again in hopes of generating more offense.

With freshman Trevor Podratz limited to one pinch-hit appearance with a sore shoulder, UH started senior AJ Bayus at designated hitter and shuffled the lineup, moving Breland Almadova down to sixth and Kaeo Aliviado into the two-hole.

Aliviado went 1-for-4 with two perfect sacrifice bunts and Almadova was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

"I was fortunate to get in a run today, but I’m just going to play my game wherever I’m at and wherever coach needs me, I’ll do what I need to do to help the team win," Almadova said.

Bayus, who nearly ended the game in the ninth with a home run that went foul of the left-field pole, added a key two-run double and Collin Bennett went 3-for-5 with an RBI as the Rainbows pounded out 13 hits.

"It’s important to have (Bayus) in the middle of the order just looking at what he’s done the last two games because he’s a threat," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We need a little more balance because we’ve been a little top heavy in the lineup and the bottom three or four spots have been struggling, so we’ll try to go with that a little bit more."

UC Davis (11-12) trailed 3-0 after three innings and tied the game in the sixth on Nick Lynch’s two-run home run off reliever David Longville.

Starter Scott Squier was pulled after a leadoff walk in the sixth, allowing three runs on three hits in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts.

With the score tied 4-all, the Aggies put the go-ahead run at second in each of the last five innings but were 1-for-13 with men in scoring position.

"It came down really to who was going to get the clutch hit because both teams were getting guys on base and executing and getting them over," Trapasso said. "Pi‘ikea was able to serve one in the outfield and get it done for us."

UH, which improved to 13-2 when it scores first, took a 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI single by Bennett that drove in Ventimilia with the first of his three runs.

The Rainbows stretched their lead to 3-0 in the third as Bayus doubled to left to bring in Ventimilia and Aliviado.

The Aggies finally broke through in the fourth off Squier, who set down nine of the first 11 batters he faced.

David Popkins singled to lead off the fourth and Paul Politi followed with an RBI double to right-center.

Politi then scored on the second of two straight groundouts to pull the Aggies within a run.

UH doubled its lead on an RBI single by Almadova in the fifth before Lynch’s home run tied the game at 4-all.

Brent Harrison worked 22⁄3 scoreless innings after Longville and Jesse Moore (1-0) got pinch hitter Austin Logan to fly out to center with the go-ahead run at third in the 11th to earn the win.

Tom Briner struck out a career-high 10 in seven innings for the Aggies and didn’t factor into the decision.

Harry Stanwyck (1-2) took the loss, allowing the one run on two hits with three walks and a strikeout over the final 22⁄3 innings.

Trapasso said he’ll probably go with freshman left-hander Lawrence Chew (1-1, 3.26 ERA) to close out the series this afternoon at 1:05.