Three pitchers combined on a one-hitter to help the University of Hawai'i baseball team beat the Alumni, 6-0, yesterday.

A modest gathering of 503 got to see the newly installed Domo Sports & Leisure Turf at Les Murakami Stadium. They saw one of the effects of the new surface when Derek DuPree's bunt single to third stopped halfway up the line in the second inning.

Starter Josh Slaats, a 6-foot-5 freshmen right-hander, allowed the only hit — a leadoff double by Justin Frash in the second — and gave up two walks while striking out three in 4 2/3 innings.

"He was up in the zone, but for the most part was throwing strikes," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

"The first guy was a bulldog," Alumni player/coach Ron Nomura said of Slaats.

Redshirt freshman left-hander Sam Spangler followed with 3 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out three and walking two.

"He was 88 to 90 (mph) the whole time he was throwing," Trapasso said. "One of the things he struggles with is he goes in and out of rhythm at times. But each time he went out of rhythm (yesterday), he was able to right himself ... so that was good. That was important for him."

Spangler said redshirting last season definitely benefitted him.

"Working one-on-one with Coach K (pitching coach Chad Konishi) and Coach Trap really helped me on my mechanics and mental aspects of pitching without worrying about going into a game," Spangler said. "When I got into summer ball, I could apply everything I learned."

Junior right-hander Jayson Kramer pitched a perfect ninth, striking out the oldest alum, Nomura, on off-speed pitches to end the game.

"I thought he would've challenged me," Nomura said with a smile. "Maybe he thought I could hit him."

Kramer said he wanted to go with his fastball, but the calls from the bench asked for off-speed.

The Rainbows used one batting order for the first five innings then started with another from the sixth.

Alumni starter Justin Costi had the varsity scoreless until the fifth. Evan Zimny led off with a walk and took second on DuPree's ground single to right. After Greg Garcia struck out, Brandon Haislet walked to load the bases and set up Shane Hoey's sacrifice fly to center. A passed ball and a walk to Jon Hee re-loaded the bases. A fielding error by shortstop Isaac Omura on a grounder by Landon Hernandez led to two runs that made it 3-0.

The Rainbows added a run in the seventh when Haislet scored on a front end of a double-steal with Ryan Morford against Clary Carlsen.

They got two more in the eighth against Paul Ah Yat. Nate Young led off with a triple and, one out later, Hoey walked. Hee's single to third scored Young. After Haislet flied out to center, Vinnie Catricala's single to left made it 6-0.

"Whether it was Alumni game or first-game jitters, I didn't think we had intensity that we're going to have to have throughout the course of the season starting next week," Trapasso said. "We had six runs on eight hits, but we really didn't swing the bats. We had too many fly balls. It gives us some things to work on."

Fourteen of their 24 offensive outs were in the air.

The Rainbows open the season Friday with a three-game series against UH-Hilo.

UH ALUMNI 000 000 000—0 1 2

HAWAI'I 000 030 12X—6 8 0

Justin Costi, Clary Carlsen (6), Paul Ah Yat (8) and Matt Inouye, Justin Frash (6). Joshua Slaats, Sam Spangler (5), Jayson Kramer (9) and Landon Hernandez, Kevin Fujii (6). W — Slaats. L — Costi.

Leading hitters — Alumni: Justin Frash double. Hawai'i: Derek DuPree 2-2; Nate Young triple.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.