CORVALLIS, Ore. — You knew something was going to be different for the Rainbows when the sun broke through for the first time yesterday after mostly overcast skies the past few days.

In one of those rare occasions where Hawai'i could not pick up a fallen teammate, No. 22 Kansas powered its way from a 5-0 deficit to turn back the Rainbows, 9-6, in the opener of the double-elimination Corvallis Regional at Goss Stadium. Four home runs accounted for seven runs for the Jayhawks (43-23).

Hawai'i (43-16), which dropped its second consecutive game for only the fourth time this season, finds its back to the wall in today's elimination game against Wright State at 10 a.m., Hawai'i time.

The Rainbows' first regional appearance since 1993 started with the news that All-America right-hander Steven Wright was bedridden with flu-like symptoms. Still, UH coach Mike Trapasso expected better of his pitching staff.

"I was disappointed with the effort we had on the mound today," he said. "I didn't think we pitched as well as we have pitched all year. That's been the strength for us. In reality, for our first game of a regional, we did score enough runs to win, but we just weren't able to make enough good pitches to pull down Kansas.

"We treat it (Wright's absence) like it's an injury. There's no excuse. We have enough pitching to go out there and get the job done. We just didn't make good pitches today."

Justin Costi, coming off a poor outing in a 10-3 loss to Nevada in the Western Athletic Conference tournament May 26, gave up a three-run home run to Erik Morrison, who entered the game the team's leader with 13 home runs, in the bottom of the third that ignited the comeback for the Jayhawks' eighth consecutive win.

It was the first of three big shots by the Jayhawks. A solo shot by No. 9 hitter Buck Afenir off Matt Daly (6-1) tied the game at 5 in the sixth. After a one-out single by Ritchie Price, Daly was pulled for Tyler Davis, who was greeted with a three-run blast to left by Jacob Schweitzer to complete hitting for Kansas' first cycle since 1993. He was 4 for 5; even his out was a deep fly to left.

"I told the guys in the third inning, it's going to take nine (innings) to win," KU coach Ritch Price said. "The way the ballpark's playing, with the wind blowing out today, when E-Mo hit the three-run homer in the bottom of the third (to) cut it to 5-3, I thought we had a chance to get back into the ball game."

Trapasso said he learned of the seriousness of Wright's illness yesterday. He said Wright saw two doctors in town and they recommended he not play. The Rainbows waited until about an hour before game time, when they submitted the lineup without Wright, who had won his past seven decisions and had not missed a start all season. Other Rainbows were bit by the flu bug throughout the regular season, but Wright could not escape it during a most critical time.

"We were still holding out hope until this morning," said Trapasso, adding that Wright is probably lost for the weekend. "But he couldn't even get out of bed."

Costi said he had the heads up of possibly starting for Wright on Thursday. Kansas did not know until the lineups were submitted, Price said.

"All I've heard was great things about him," Price said of Wright. "It must've devastated Hawai'i to get this far and not run their No. 1 guy out there."

But it wasn't just KU's bats, which produced 16 hits, that aided the rally. Jayhawks' ace Kodiak Quick settled after giving up five runs in the first three innings. After Morrison's three-run blast to left off Costi in the bottom of the third, Quick retired six of the next seven batters he faced to give his offense a chance to chip away.

"The whole key for us was after getting down 5-0 the first three was Kodiak went out and put zeros up in the fourth and fifth," Price said. "If you're going to come from behind, you're pitching staff has to put up zeros to give your offense the opportunity to score."

Brandon McNamara (3-2) added two scoreless innings, while Paul Smyth gave up a run in two-thirds of an inning and all-world closer Don Czyz notched his nation-leading 19th save with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Costi showed signs of trouble in the second, when he gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning before getting the next two outs. He walked Afenir to load the bases, but stranded the runners when Matt Baty grounded into a force. Costi could not get command of the inside corner.

"I didn't do that today," he said.

His lack of command caught up to him in the third, when he hit a batter to start the inning, followed by a single. Like the previous inning, he got the next two out, but Morrison drilled his first pitch out.

"When you leave balls up to a team like Kansas, they'll hit it out of the park," Costi said.

In the fourth, Ritchie Price singled with one out and took third on Schweitzer's double to left. Costi was pulled for Daly, who gave up a deep fly to right by Gus Milner for a sacrifice fly to pull KU to 5-4. John Allman's flyout to right also was hit deep for the third out.

Daly threw a perfect fifth, but Afenir tied the game at 5 with his homer to left to start the inning.

"In the sixth inning, it was more they were sitting on the fastball, as I was throwing it a lot," Daly explained. "Obviously I left that pitch up."

After striking out Baty, Ritchie Price singled sharply to left and Daly was pulled for Tyler Davis. Schweizer, who had tripled in the first and singled in the third, ripped Davis' 0-1 offering to left to break the 5-all game.

The Rainbows methodically built their lead against Quick. He hit Robbie Wilder with a pitch to start the game. He struck out Derek DuPree after a passed ball, but walked Justin Frash and gave up a single to left to Luis Avila to load the bases before walking Matt Inouye to push across the first run of the game.

The Rainbows cashed in on Quick's third walk on an RBI single by Wilder with two outs in the second. They got four singles in the third — RBI hits by Eli Christensen and Jon Hee — as well as a wild pitch to score three in the third to make it 5-0.

"We had the help of a fairly tight zone that really played to our advantage." Trapasso said. "(Quick) was throwing some pretty good pitches down in the zone, but it was really in favor of our hitters for our approach we were using. Our offense did enough in a regional for us to win by scoring six runs."

The Rainbows will start left-hander Ian Harrington today.

NO. 5 OREGON STATE 5, WRIGHT STATE 3

No. 9 hitter Chris Kunda’s two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a 3-all game to send the Beavers (40-14) into today’s winners’ bracket against No. 22 Kansas.

Eddie Kunz (3-1) allowed a hit in two scoreless innings of relief of starter Dallas Buck, who was charged with three runs, six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings for the Beavers. Kevin Gunderson allowed a walk in a scoreless ninth.

In the eighth, Shea McFeely led off by getting hit by a pitch from Joe Smith (3-1), only to get erased when Bill Rowe bunted into a double-play grounder to the pitcher. But Tyler Graham was hit by a pitch and stole second before Scott Santschi was intentionally walked to get to Kunda, who doubled to left-center to score both runners.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.