Hawaii rallies to take series at No. 18 Cal State Fullerton

Ethan Lopez singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and Hawaii finished Big West conference play with a 3-2 victory over No. 18 Cal State Fullerton today at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif.

The Rainbow Warriors (23-27, 12-12) won their first series against the Titans (33-18, 15-6) since 1982 and handed Cal State Fullerton its only two home losses in conference play this season.

UH finishes 12-12 in the Big West for the second straight season after going 17-34 in its first two years after leaving the WAC.

Jacob Sheldon-Collins tripled and scored two runs for Hawaii, which led 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning.

UH dropped a fly ball with two outs and Fullerton put the next three runners on base with Josh Vargas’ two-run single giving the Titans a 2-1 lead.

Cal State Fullerton was 23-1 when leading after seven innings but walked the first two batters in the eighth.

A throwing error on a bunt allowed Sheldon-Collins to score the tying run. Kekai Rios hit a fly ball to right that temporarily scored Eric Ramirez from third, but the Titans appealed the play at third and Ramirez was called out for leaving early.

Lopez, who tied Kolten Wong’s 16-game hitting streak for the longest by a UH player since at least 2001, singled through the right side with two outs to score Marcus Doi for the 3-2 lead.

Matt Valencia finished off the ninth inning for his fourth save.

Brendan Hornung allowed two unearned runs in 6 2/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts and Cody Culp (3-1) retired all three batters he faced to earn the win.

UH will play its final three games of the season at home starting Friday against No. 22 Arizona.