Jayson Kramer pitched eight strong innings, and Kevin Macdonald and Kolten Wong each homered to help Hawai'i beat Sacramento State, 5-4, in the Western Athletic Conference series opener tonight before 2,625 at Les Murakami Stadium.

Kramer (3-3) allowed two runs, seven hits and two walks with seven strikeouts for the Rainbows (22-12 overall, 5-3 WAC). Sam Spangler gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but still notched his third save.

Chris Baek (3-4) allowed five runs, six hits and three walks in two-plus innings for the Hornets (20-15, 1-4).

In the bottom of the first with two outs, Vinnie Catricala singled to right and Macdonald ripped a 1-1 pitch to left-center for his fifth home run of the season and give the Rainbows a 2-0 lead.

Sacramento State cut its deficit in half in the third. Aaron Crouch led off with a single to center, took second when Justin Lamb grounded out slow chopper to short, went to third when Brent Hottman grounded out to second and scored on Hunter Martinez's single up the middle to pull the Hornets to 2-1.

The Rainbows went long again in the third to add to their lead. Catricala led off with a single to center, Macdonald walked and Wong lined his team-leading eighth homer of the season to right to increase UH's lead to 5-1. Landon Hernandez singled to center and took second on Jeffrey Van Doornum's single to left. Baek was lifted for Alex Taku. Matt Roqemore flied out to left, holding the runners. Ryan Morford flied out to center with the runners going on the pitch and Hernandez was doubled off second to end the inning.

Kramer managed to give up just one run despite getting into a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth. Hottman was hit by pitch to start the eighth and took second on Martinez's single to left. Derrick Chung's line single to center loaded the bases. Hottman was forced out at home when Tim Wheeler reached on a fielder's choice grounder to first baseman Macdonald. Kramer then struck out Blake Crosby, but Jeff Roth's single scored Martinez and reloaded the bases with UH's lead cut to 5-2, Josh Powers grounded out to short to leave the bases loaded.

Pinch hitter Joe Espana led off with a single to right off Spangler. Lamb struck out on three pitches. Hottman then ripped a two-run home run to left to pull the Hornets to 5-4. Martinez struck out swinging and Chung flied out to center field to end the game.