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Aaron Payne had four hits and scored three times and Ryon Healy was 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs to lead No. 6 Oregon to a 9-5 victory over Hawaii on Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.
LJ Brewster hit an RBI single to pull Hawaii within two at 5-3 in the seventh. The Ducks (3-0) broke the game open in the eighth, scoring three runs on five hits off of UH reliever Patrick O’Rourke.
Oregon starter Cole Irvin earned the win in his first collegiate start, allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings with two walks and four strikeouts.
Pi’ikea Kitamura gave UH (0-3) its first lead of the series with an RBI single in the first before Irvin retired 16 of the next 17 batters.
Hawaii starter Connor Little went 6 1/3 innings in the loss, striking out three and walking two.
He left the game with runners on first and second in the seventh and was charged with two more runs when Brett Thomas hit an RBI double and Healy followed with a run-scoring single off reliever Lawrence Chew.
Kitamura finished 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two RBIs to lead Hawaii.
The Rainbows will send Corey MacDonald to the mound on Monday at 1:05 to try and avoid a season-opening series sweep for the first time since losing three straight to Texas in 2004.
