It took 39 games for the Hawaii baseball team to be shut out in 2023.

Unfortunately for the Rainbow Warriors, the end to that run came at a bad time; UH can ill afford to drop any more Big West Conference games. UC Irvine did the blanking in a 6-0 decision at Anteater Ballpark on Saturday afternoon in Irvine, Calif.

UH (22-17, 11-9 Big West) is five games back in the loss column from leader Cal State Fullerton (28-14, 17-4) with 10 games to play.

UCI did all of its damage over the first five innings Saturday as Caden Kendle hit a two-run homer off of Randy Abshier (4-2) to open the game and Thomas McCaffrey hit a two-run shot off Cameron Hagan to complete the scoring in the fifth.

The ‘Bows were four-hit. Jared Quandt went 2-for-4, Jacob Igawa was 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, and Ben Zeigler-Namoa had a pinch-hit single. Quandt had a triple and a home run in Friday's 7-2 win over the Anteaters.

Dalton Renne pitched the final three innings unscathed with one hit and two walks allowed. Michael Stanford (4-2) got the win for UCI in going seven innings with two hits given up.

UH will go for the series victory at 10 a.m. Hawaii time Sunday. UH and UCI (29-14, 11-9) enter the game tied for fifth place.

Afterward, UH will return home from its two-week road trip to host UC Davis (16-26, 6-14) next weekend.

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