Hawaii still hasn’t figured out how to hit with runners in scoring position, and it cost the Rainbow Warriors once again.

UH squandered nearly every scoring chance it had Thursday night against a freshman who had never started a college game.

Santa Clara right-hander Travis Howard more than doubled his career strikeout total with seven in 62⁄3 innings and Hawaii went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position in a 3-1 loss to the Broncos at Les Murakami Stadium.

Kamehameha alum Tyler Meditz went 2-for-4 with an RBI and scored the go-ahead run for the Broncos (9-10), who started Howard to keep their regular rotation on their normal pitching days beginning with ace Mitchell White tonight in Game 2.

“We had a pretty intense week,” Santa Clara coach Dan O’Brien said. “We had been playing poorly and needed to start competing again, so while we’re happy that Travis threw well, I knew he was going to because he’s a warrior. He’s a winner.”

Howard stopped a season-high three-game winning streak by Hawaii (9-13), which left nine runners on base.

Hawaii had the bases loaded with one out in the first inning and didn’t score and failed to push a runner across with two on and one out in the third.

UH caught a bad break in the seventh inning when senior Matt LoCoco sent one out to the alley in right-center that would have scored Josh Rojas, who reached on an error.

The ball one-hopped over the wall for a ground-rule double, forcing Rojas back to third.

An exasperated crowd of 1,136, already restless, let out a collective grown when Santa Clara again got out of a jam.

Howard struck out Jacob Sheldon-Collins, who flailed at a pitch high and outside the strike zone for the second out and reliever Nick Medeiros got Johnny Weeks to fly out to center after getting ahead 0-2.

“Chances are one thing. You’ve got to make the most out of those opportunities,” Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “You can’t expect to get six hits and win a game with one run because you’re putting an awful lot of pressure on your pitchers.”

Hawaii cashed in on its only run in the fifth inning when Weeks beat out a double play at first, allowing Rojas to score from third.

Howard (2-1) nearly got out of the fifth inning unscathed when Kyle Cortopassi made a diving stop at third to snag Weeks’ grounder. The Broncos almost turned the double play, but Weeks just got his foot on the bag in time to tie the score at 1-1.

Meditz, who entered the game hitting .156 (5-for-32), gave Santa Clara a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI single to score Cortopassi, who led off with a triple.

Hawaii starter Brendan Hornung was up-and-down through the entire start. The Broncos, who entered the game hitting .232 as a team, squared up balls early despite scoring only one run.

Hornung, however, punched out the side in the fifth.

Meditz started the seventh with the first of three straight Broncos hits to give Santa Clara the lead.

With runners on first and second and nobody out, Grant Meylan squared to bunt but instead swung away and singled through the right side, driving in Meditz with the go-ahead run.

“We really needed this coming off of a couple of hard losses,” Meditz said. “Staying ferocious is kind of what we’ve been focusing on this week and carrying it forward.”

Hornung struck out Santa Clara leadoff hitter John Cresto for the fourth straight time and set a career high with his ninth strikeout for the second out, but the Broncos scored on the play.

Meylan took off for second on the swinging strikeout and catcher Kekai Rios threw down to second. Hawaii got Meylan out at first but not before Joe Becht crossed the plate from third to push the SCU lead to 3-1.

Hornung (2-5) gave up eight hits in 7 1⁄3 innings and left after a one-out walk, giving way to Cody Culp, who struck out Meditz to end the inning.

Howard, who had thrown 12 innings in seven appearances as a reliever, gave up six hits and one walk in 62⁄3 innings with seven strikeouts.

The Broncos will go with their regular rotation for the rest of the series, beginning tonight with White (2-2, 1.34 ERA), who has struck out 48 in 33 2⁄3 innings.

“It sets up nicely when you have a freshman that can throw like that and then obviously you turn to your No. 1 on Game 2, it’s a good setup,” O’Brien said.

SANTA CLARA 3, HAWAII 1

E–Becht 2, Cortopassi, Rojas. DP–Santa Clara 1. LOB–Santa Clara 7, Hawaii 9. 2B-Berman, LoCoco, Sheldon-Collins. 3B–Cortopassi. SH–LoCoco. HBP–Berman. SB-Becht. CS– Meylan.

WP- Medeiros 2, Hornung. HBP– by Hornung (Berman). BK–Hornung.

Umpires–(Plate): Ramon Armendariz. (First): Ryan Bleiberg. (Third): Jason Venzon. T–2:43. A–1,136.