HONOLULU — Harry Gustin let it all out.

Gustin, the Hawaii baseball team’s Friday night starter, was sick to his stomach prior during warmups against Tulane in this weekend’s nonconference series opener. But he was dialed in from there, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning and leading the Rainbow Warriors to a 3-1 victory over the Green Wave at Les Murakami Stadium.

Gustin’s no-hit bid emphatically came to an end by Adam Ebling’s no-doubt home run to left to lead off the seventh, but the sophomore left-hander recovered quickly and struck out the next three batters to end his night in strong fashion.

"I knew I had to come back and answer," Gustin said.

He had the best outing of a UH pitcher so far this season: 7.0 innings, one hit, one run, and one walk against eight strikeouts. Gustin’s previous outing of 5 2/3 innings at Cal Poly was the farthest into a game a Rainbows starter had gone in 2023.

Gustin, of Aurora, Colo., has always been one to feel nerves before a game, he said, but actually throwing up was something different.

"I guess it just needed to come up today," he said with a laugh.

Coach Rich Hill lauded his performance, saying he was most proud of his response to the home run while acknowledging he almost pulled Gustin at that point. Before Ebling’s homer, Gustin had faced just one batter above the minimum, with a walk issued in the third.

“He blew chow before the game. But they say Colt Brennan used to do that too,” noted Hill. “Pretty good company.”

UH (10-8) won for Gustin’s fourth straight start, while Gustin improved to 2-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 3.54 after rough outings in his first two appearances.

Hill credited Gustin’s work and relationship with pitching coach Matt Troupe. Gustin, for his part, said opening at-bats with first-pitch curveballs for strikes was a key Friday.

“He’s got a special breaking ball. Real good spin rate,” Hill said. “He’s going to be a Major League pitcher with that pitch. He’s just learning how to pitch off his fastball a little bit more. As he gains strength and puts on weight, gets up in that 180, 190 range, he’s going to add a few more (mph) velocity and be able to go deeper into games at the next level.”

It was a true duel of pitchers as Gustin and Green Wave starter Dylan Carmouche matched zeroes for the first half of the game.

Gustin was cruising along, but got a little help too. Third baseman Kyson Donahue initially bobbled a two-hopper from Tulane’s Brennan Lambert with one out in the fourth, but he snatched it out of the air on the run and fired it to Ben Zeigler-Namoa at first for the out.

Rainbows left fielder Matt Miura notched the first hit for either team with a single to right to lead off the bottom of the fourth.

UH did all its damage in the sixth, starting with a double from Tai Walton and a perfect bunt single from Jordan Donahue that advanced Walton to third.

UH tried to squeeze home Walton, but Tulane (6-16) was on top of Miura’s bunt and got the out at home plate. Zeigler-Namoa then walked.

Finally, a run came in on a wild pitch. Jordan Donahue was ready and pounced in for a slide well ahead of the tag.

Kyson Donahue followed with an opposite-field double off the wall in left to score two more.

Alex Giroux came on to work the eighth but ran into some trouble, allowing runners at the corners with two out. Connor Harrison struck out Brayden Morrow to end the threat and worked a nearly clean ninth in which the only Green Wave runner was via an error to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Randy Abshier (1-1, 4.05 ERA) will start for UH on Saturday’s 6:35 p.m match. Game 2 of the three-game series.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.