Kevin Arendse said his team's record is deceiving and Hawai'i now knows that's true.

The sophomore catcher hit a pair of solo home runs and scored three times to back starting pitcher Dan Christensen as Utah Valley humbled Hawai'i, 5-1, last night in non-conference collegiate baseball before 853 at Les Murakami Stadium.

"Our record doesn't show how good of a team we are," said Arendse, who entered the game with two home runs on the season. "We play a lot of good teams, a lot of ranked teams. We have a good team and our record (16-35-1 after last night) doesn't show that."

The Wolverines, an independent, split a two-game series earlier in the week against two-time defending national champion Oregon State.

Christensen (2-7) tossed his third complete game of the season, allowing a run, eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts.

But it wasn't as if the Rainbows (26-28) didn't have their chances to stomp Christensen early. Hawai'i stranded eight runners in the first three innings. The only run UH scored came on a bases-loaded walk by Greg Garcia in the second that tied the score at 1.

"It was an embarrassing performance," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was as disappointing an effort that I have seen from this group. It's my job to have these guys ready. That's the most lackluster performance I've seen out of us all year. All year.

"There are no excuses. You can't talk about traveling, you can't talk about finals. You play like you're going to throw your gloves out on the field and win, you're going to get beat. We've won for the last eight weeks because we played at a high level."

Nick Rhodes (4-6) went 7 1/3 innings, allowing five runs, 11 hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.

"He pitched good enough," Trapasso said. "He gave us a good effort."

Arendse led off the second with a blast to center to make it 1-0. The Rainbows tied it in the bottom half on Garcia's bases-loaded walk.

Arendse broke the tie with a two-out solo shot to center again.

"I just saw the ball really well today," Arendse said. "They said the ball doesn't fly out there. I didn't think they were gone either. It was fun."

The Wolverines broke it open with a three-run eighth on an RBI single by Adam Openshaw against Rhodes, and RBI singles by Jake Rickenbach and pinch hitter Tyler Garretson against Jayson Kramer.

After UH left the bases loaded in the third, it never amounted any kind of threat against Christensen.

The series continues at 6:35 tonight. Josh Schneider will start for UH. He'll be on a 100-pitch limit, Trapasso said.

NOTE: Pat "Blazer" Brown was named recipient of the 2008 Chuck Leahey Award prior to last night's game. The 78-year-old Brown was an outstanding pitcher for the Pearl Harbor Admirals of the old Armed Forces League and stays active these days playing softball.