Box Score Honolulu, HI—UC Riverside's Thomas Walker banged out three hits and scored the only two runs the Highlanders would need Friday evening in a 2-1 victory at Hawai'i.

The win evened UC Riverside's record at 8-8 in Big West play, and kept the Highlanders in a tie for fourth place with Cal Poly.

UCR put runners on base in each of the first three innings against Rainbow Warriors starter Kyle Von Ruden (6-2), but didn't break through until the top of the fourth. Walker singled up the middle with one out, moved to third on a single down the left field line by Casey Worden, and scored on an RBI ground out to second by Colby Schultz.

Two innings later, Walker again reached on a one-out single, moving to second when Worden was hit by a pitch. Schultz' sac bunt moved both runners up 90 feet, and Michael Farris laced a single to right to make it 2-0 Highlanders.

Hawai'i (19-26, 8-11) played small ball to slice the UCR (21-25) advantage in half in the bottom of the sixth. Eric Ramirez drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a Marcus Doi sac bunt. Kekai Rios then beat out an infield single, and Ethan Lopez lifted a sacrifice fly to right.

Austin Sodders picked up the win, improving to 5-4 on the season. The junior left-hander struck out eight while allowing just five hits and two walks in six innings. Jared Mortin, Hazahel Quijada and Alex Fagalde combined to toss three innings of hitless relief, with Fagalde going 1.2 innings for his second save of the season.

The Highlanders and Rainbow Warriors take the day off Saturday for Hawai'i's graduation, but they return to the diamond for a double header, Sunday, which begins at 3:05 pm PT.