NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Hawaii continues to make things interesting in the final weeks of the Big West Conference baseball season.

Harry Gustin, Alex Giroux and Harrison Bodendorf combined on a six-hitter and the Rainbow Warriors became the first team to shut out Cal State Northridge this season with a 7-0 victory at Matador Field in the series opener on Friday.

With its fourth straight win, UH moved into a fourth-place tie with the Matadors and, combined with Long Beach State’s 2-1 win at Cal State Fullerton, UH (26-18, 15-10 BWC) is just two games off the conference lead with five to play.

UC Santa Barbara, which UH hosts next week in the final games of the regular season, moved into a first-place tie with CSUF at 17-8 in the BWC.

Gustin (4-3) went five innings with four hits and five walks against five strikeouts to pick up the win. He gave way to Giroux, who gave up one hit in an otherwise clean sixth, and Bodendorf then went the final three innings with just one hit allowed to pick up his fourth save of the season.

The Nos. 4 through 7 hitters in the lineup carried the load offensively as Jacob Igawa was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, Stone Miyao was 3-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs, Ben Zeigler-Namoa was 3-for-5 and Jared Quandt was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Leadoff man Dallas Duarte doubled.

UH blew it open with a five-run eighth inning; four of the runs came with two outs.

CSUN (29-17, 15-10) was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The teams pick up the series at 11 a.m. Hawaii time on Saturday.

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