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Dillon Tate, rated the top collegiate pitching prospect in the country, threw seven hitless innings coming off a minor injury and No. 8 UC Santa Barbara shut out Hawaii 5-0 on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
Tate (6-3) walked two and struck out six in a 94-pitch effort for the Gauchos (30-9, 7-3 Big West), who moved into a tie in the loss column with conference leader UC Irvine.
JJ Kitaoka singled off reliever Kyle Nelson with two outs in the eighth inning to record the first hit by the Rainbow Warriors (14-25, 5-8).
Peter Maris went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored and Woody Woodward singled and scored twice to lead the Gauchos offensively.
L.J. Brewster (5-4) allowed four runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings with one walk and six strikeouts to take the loss for UH.
Alan Baldwin added a leadoff single in the ninth.
UCSB needs to win one of the next two games to a win a Big West series against Hawaii for the first time in three years.
Game 2 is Saturday night at a special 6:05 p.m. start time.
