CORVALLIS, Ore. — Pitching on guts and fumes, closer Darrell Fisherbaugh turned in his best outing of the season to help Hawai'i send home No. 22 Kansas from the NCAA Corvallis Regional elimination game with a 9-5 win yesterday.

Fisherbaugh (3-2) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, scattering five hits and two walks, in relief of starter Mark Rodrigues. The team leader with nine saves saved the Rainbows (45-16) in a different way by allowing his fellow bullpen mates needed rest with at least another game to go.

He settled the game long enough to allow the Rainbows to recover from a 5-0 deficit after three innings on the strength of a pair of two-run home runs by Matt Inouye, his first of the season, and a 3-for-4, three-RBI performance by Luis Avila.

"The story of the game was really a team effort," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "I think the guys up here with me really did some special things ... These guys had to step up and do things outside of their normal role during the regular season."

Fisherbaugh's longest outing before yesterday was 2 1/3 innings against Washington on March 4.

"In any situation like this, he knew he could be called on any time," Trapasso said. "We went to the pen, I gave him the ball and said 'I'll see you after 9,' but not really expecting it to actually happen. He was outstanding."

Adding to the drama is that while warming up, Fisherbaugh cut his thumb with his index fingernail because of the way he grips his changeup. He had to get his thumb cleaned several times by trainer Neil Santiago.

Then there was freshman shortstop Nathan Young, starting his second game of the regional after tender elbow sidelined starter Eli Christensen. Young was the pivot in two of three double plays turned by UH. But he surprised with his bat — he entered the game with a .222 batting average — by batting 3 for 4 and scoring twice.

Young's second run was crucial, coming in the eighth to cushion UH's lead to four runs. He led off the inning with a single and took second on a hit-and-run groundout by Robbie Wilder. Young advanced to third when Derek DuPree flied to deep left, then scored on a passed ball to make it 9-5.

"I knew (the left fielder) was close to the fence and wouldn't be able to follow through (with his throw)," Young explained on his reason for tagging on the play. "So I just gave it a shot."

The second-seeded Jayhawks (43-25), the second team eliminated from the regional, jumped on Rodrigues for four runs in the first and made it 5-0 when Jared Schweitzer homered to left in the third, his second homer against UH in the regional.

But the resilient Rainbows, who had a 5-0 lead on KU in the regional opener on Friday, tied it against Jayhawks' starter Ricky Fairchild with five in the bottom of the third. Justin Frash's RBI groundout with the bases loaded was followed by Avila's two-run single and then Inouye's first homer of the season, a blast to left-center.

Inouye then broke the tie in the fifth when he drilled Brendan McNamara's low inside fastball to about the same area to make it 7-5.

"This young man next to me, he wouldn't let us down," Trapasso said of Inouye, who was seated next to his coach at the postgame press conference.

"The guy was throwing a lot of strikes and I knew the wind was blowing out, so I knew if I had a chance to get it up into the wind, I had a chance to hit it out," Inouye said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.