Shortstop Jack Haley powered a sprint-off double to boost Cal State Fullerton to Friday night’s 7-6 baseball victory over Hawaii in Fullerton, Calif.

A crowd of 969 at Goodwin Field saw the Titans conquer an early 5-1 deficit, and then parlay a ninth-inning error and Haley’s fourth extra-base hit of the season to win their sixth in a row.

With one out and the score tied at 6 in the ninth, Moises Guzman hit a grounder to third. But Kyson Donahue had difficulty pulling the ball out of his glove, and his throw to first was too late to get Guzman. One out later, Haley smacked a pitch from left-hander Connor Harrison over the head of center fielder Matt Wong for the game-winner. It was the fifth time this season the Titans won a game in their final at-bat.

“Good fight,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “The guys played hard. The team that deserved to win the game won the game.”

The Titans improved to 13-8 overall and 6-1 in the Big West. In losing the opener of the three-game series, the ’Bows dropped to 12-9 and 2-2.

The ’Bows manufactured a small-ball run to tie it at 6 in the seventh inning. Jared Quandt, who had entered as a defensive replacement for right fielder Sean Rimmer an inning earlier, singled to center to open the seventh. Quandt went to second after Stone Miyao drew a 10-pitch walk. Both runners advanced on Naighel Ali‘i Calderon’s sacrifice. Quandt then scored on Jordan Donahue’s RBI groundout to short against an infield playing at medium depth.

But the ’Bows would not get another baserunner the rest of the way. And while the ’Bows were able to work their way out of several jams, they could not outlast an opponent that amassed 14 hits and played without head coach Jason Dietrich the final three innings.

“It seemed like guys were on base the entire game,” Hill said. “They had 14 hits. It was like pushing a grapefruit though a doughnut hole all night.”

The ’Bows had built a 5-1 lead on Jacob Igawa’s two-run double in the first and three runs in the fourth.

In the Fullerton fifth, Carter White singled and Zach Lew walked with one out. UH starter Harry Gustin’s 93rd pitch struck out Caden Connor. But Gustin’s energy was near empty, and Hill summoned Alex Giroux, who entered with a team-best 0.81 ERA. Giroux’s first two pitches were balls to Maddox Latta. Home plate umpire Joe Madden penalized Giroux another ball for letting the pitch clock lapse. Latta’s ensuing RBI single closed the Titans to 5-2.

“You’ve got to give credit to Latta,” Hill said. “We get that pitch-clock violation that got us to 3-0. We had to challenge him, and he took advantage of it.”

Guzman hit a solo home run to open the sixth and close the deficit to 5-3. Designated hitter Brendan Bobo struck out and Dietrich continued to argue the dimensions of Madden’s strike zone. Dietrich was ejected. The Titans then scored three more runs to take the lead at 6-5.

“We’ll learn from this,” Hill said. “I will learn personally from this in how to use our staff and how to go about a Friday win and use all our pieces to the best of our ability.”

Hill said Giroux and Harrison, who leads the ’Bows with five saves, will be held out of today’s game. But both will be available to pitch in the series finale. “Alex and Connor will be hot and read to roll on Sunday,” Hill said.