HONOLULU — The Hawaii baseball team put itself in position for a dramatic late-innings victory over Holy Cross on Saturday night as it rallied from four runs down to tie it up at Les Murakami Stadium.

Instead, it was visiting Holy Cross that outplayed UH in the ninth inning in a 6-4 win for the Patriot League team, which evened the four-game series heading into Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. contest.

Freshman reliever Itsuki Takemoto took his first loss for UH (5-5).

Gianni Royer led off the ninth with a single against freshman reliever Takemoto and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Connor Cooney walked and CJ Egrie bunted to move the runners over, but Takemoto committed a throwing error on the play and both runners came in to score.

Elijah Ickes, Ben Zeigler-Namoa and Dallas Duarte went down in order against Jaden Wywoda in the bottom of the ninth.

Starter Randy Abshier struck out nine in four innings with five hits, one walk and four runs allowed. 

Luke Lemond picked up the win in two innings of work for Holy Cross (3-5). Crusaders first baseman Chris Baillargeon hit a solo home run in the second inning.

Holy Cross first baseman Chris Baillargeon, right, hit a home run in the second inning as Brendan Jones met him behind home plate. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

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