For the second time in three days, it was too little too late.

Hawaii came back from five down in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the tying run on third base before Brendan Mulligan struck out Kaeo Aliviado to clinch Hofstra’s 6-5 win over the Rainbow Warriors.

Both of Hawaii’s losses to the Pride (2-4) have come with the ‘Bows trailing by at least three runs in the eighth inning only to put the tying run at third in the ninth.

On Friday, Hawaii (2-5) was outhit 15-4 heading into the final frame when it nearly pulled off the dramatic win in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,722.

Freshman Jonathan Weeks, starting at shortstop for the injured Jacob Sheldon-Collins, singled home Jordan Richartz with one out to make it 6-2. Stephen Ventimilia followed a four-pitch walk by Matt Miller with a two-run double inside the bag at third to make it 6-4.

Chayce Ka‘aua pinch-hit for Matt LoCoco and brought in a run with a groundout to second to set the stage for Aliviado, who homered earlier in the evening.

Aliviado lined a 1-1 pitch just foul at first before he swung and missed at the game’s final pitch.

"Hopefully we can use that disappointment to gain an understanding of how fine a line there is," Hawaii coach Mike Trapaso said. "Little things in the game, like at-bats that you throw away, will cost you at the end because all of a sudden you mount a great comeback and if you stop a run here, stop a run there, you win the game."

Starter Chris Bonk (1-1) held Hawaii scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Aliviado led off with a solo homer to right.

It was 6-1 by then as the Pride tagged UH’s Quintin Torres-Costa for six runs in 42⁄3 innings.

Steven Foster, who had four hits, hit a two-out RBI single in the third and Chris Weiss snuck a single back up the middle with two outs in the fourth to make it 2-0.

Torres-Costa couldn’t get out of the fifth, as David Leiderman poked an RBI single up the middle and Mat Annunziata hit a grounder just inside the bag at first for a two-run triple to make it 5-0.

A wild pitch by reliever Juliene Jones added another as Hofstra scored five of its six runs through five innings with two outs.

"(Torres-Costa) had really good stuff and the first two runs he made two really great pitches, fastball in, that found a way," Trapasso said. "At one point I turned to coach (Rusty) McNamara and said to him it just doesn’t look like our night."

Ventimilia had two doubles and Aliviado doubled to go along with the second home run of his career. The other came in March 2012 during his freshman season against Wichita State.

Hawaii has scored nine of its 14 runs in the series in the seventh inning or later.

"We sat on the early innings too long and you can’t sit around that long and then try to manufacture that many runs in the last inning," Ventimilia said. "I can’t explain it. It’s something that we as seniors need to take upon ourselves and motivate the team to play the way we played in the ninth in the other eight innings because it’s inexcusable."

Jones gave up five hits and three walks in three innings but didn’t surrender a run.

Weeks filled in at shortstop for Sheldon-Collins, who hurt his shoulder making a diving catch on Thursday. He was cleared to play by the doctor but sat out as a precaution.

Freshman Alex Jondal started behind the plate for Ka‘aua, who had the first six games of the season.

Jondal struck out in his only official at-bat and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh. Alan Baldwin came in from left field to catch the final two innings, with Miller playing in right and LoCoco moving over to left.

Baldwin saved a run multiple times in the eighth making a variety of key stops on balls in the dirt to keep the runner at third.

E—Aliviado. DP—Hofstra 1; Hawaii 1. LOB—Hofstra 12; Hawaii 7. 2B—Fallon; Ventimilia 2; Aliviado. 3B—Annunziata. HR—Aliviado. HBP—LoCoco; Richartz; Baldwin. SH—Foster; Weiss; Jondal. SB—Foster; Fallon; Richartz. CS—Foster; Russo. 

WP—K. Weissheier; Jones. HBP—by Bonk (LoCoco); by Bonk (Baldwin); by K. Weissheier (Richartz). BK—Jones.

Umpires—(Plate): Silvo Sid Aquilar. (First): Bradley Hungerford. (Third): Bill Barnes. T—3:00. A—1,722.