Behind a balanced effort at the plate, the University of Hawaii baseball team opened its series against Connecticut with a 8-4 victory on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hawaii improves to 7-4 for the 2023 season, while UConn drops to 6-4.

After going 2-1 in Minnesota last week, the ‘Bows continued their steady momentum with 13 hits as a team. Five Rainbow Warriors had multiple hits, led by Jacob Igawa’s game-high three to go with two RBI.

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On the mound, Alex Giroux got the win after striking out six in 3.2 innings of relief after starter Harry Gustin lasted 3.1 innings with four walks, six strikeouts, three hits and two runs.

For UConn, starter Alex Cooke took the loss after giving up 10 hits in 3.1 innings.

The Rainbow Warriors and Huskies will continue their series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m.