HONOLULU — For the second straight night, the Hawaii baseball team gritted its way to an opportunity against No. 20 UC Irvine. Yet again, the Rainbow Warriors were unable to capitalize on it.

UH nearly dug itself out of a seven-run hole and had the go-ahead run on base in the eighth inning before the Anteaters closed the door on a 12-8 victory at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night.

The ‘Bows drew to within 9-8 and had runners on first and second with one out, but UCI reliever Ricky Tibbett struck out Kyson Donahue and Stone Miyao to get out of the eighth and the ‘Eaters got to Itsuki Takemoto for three insurance runs in the top of the ninth.

UH (15-9, 2-3 Big West) got a one-out single from Dallas Duarte in the bottom of the ninth, but Tibbett worked around it for the save.

UCI (21-3, 7-1) had led 8-1 through the top of the fourth, highlighted by a three-run shot by designated hitter Thomas McCaffrey.

“Our team battled all the way through. We were behind the 8-ball tonight,” coach Rich Hill said. “Could’ve gone either way. We’re 8-1 down and guys just started scrapping back. We pulled within one right there, got into their bullpen. But they made pitches when they had to late in the game, and we didn’t. And that’s the difference in the game.”

Irvine hammered second-day starter Randy Abshier with 10 of its 16 hits over the first three-plus innings. The left-hander was tagged with eight earned runs.

UCI left fielder Caden Kendle was 4-for-4 while first baseman Anthony Martinez, who had two homers in Thursday’s 6-3 ‘Eaters win, was 3-for-5. Middle infielder Will Bermudez was 3-for-4.

UH has not been swept by a Big West opponent in Hill’s tenure, a streak of 21 series.

As for how he’d piece together his pitching in Saturday's 1:05 p.m. series finale, Hill said, “We’ll figure it out. But we’re semi-rested to get after this thing.”

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