Hawai'i made the most of four hits, in part because of eight walks, but mostly on Vinnie Catricala's two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to down No. 26 Mississippi State, 7-4, last night to even the four-game series at 1.

The Rainbows (4-6) snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Bulldogs (8-2) had a six-game win streak end.

With the game tied at 4, reliever Lee Swindle retired the first two batters to start the bottom of the ninth before Greg Garcia, batting leadoff for the first time this season, worked a walk. Kolten Wong, who had led off all of UH's games until last night, walked on four pitches, bringing up Catricala. Swindle grooved a fastball that the right-handed hitting Catricala yanked to left. The ball hit the top of the fence and bounced over to the delight of the majority of 1,406, sans the estimated 150 MSU boosters who made the trip to Les Murakami Stadium.

"I definitely wasn't trying to hit a home run," Catricala said. "I was just trying to see the ball and hit it, trying to go middle (or) right side."

Obviously, it was a mistake pitch by Swindle (0-1), who was charged with three runs on one hit and two walks in two innings.

"We're saying, 'Let's work outside of the zone' and, of course, we threw it belt-high right down the middle of the plate," MSU coach John Cohen said.

Sam Spangler (1-0) was his effective self, pitching two scoreless innings, surviving a lead-off single in the eighth and a one-out double in the ninth.

Hawai'i's Nate Klein gave seven strong innings in his third start, allowing four runs (three earned), six hits and a walk with six strikeouts.

For the second consecutive night, the Rainbow labored against a left-hander. Bulldogs' starter Nick Routt was more a victim of control and two errors, as he allowed four runs (two earned) and two hits.

But, two of his four walks were cashed in for runs in UH's four-run second. All eight walks allowed by MSU came with two outs.

"We just gave it away," Cohen said. "The last thing you ever want to do is walk a club that's hitting .235. I think they're better than a .235 club, but that's where they are right now. If we just throw the ball in the strike zone, we don't walk anybody, it's a pretty easy deal for us. We'll learn from this."

The Rainbows had four hits for the second game in a row and UH coach Mike Trapasso knows they will have to do better than that.

"We got some help in both innings we scored," Trapasso said. "We got the walks and we were able to take advantage. We've got to do a better job offensively, trust the depth more and get more than four hits in a game. We're jumpy, we're not letting the ball travel. We have to let the ball get deeper."

It appeared the Rainbows had that problem solved in the four-run inning. Ryan Morford's opposite-field single to right scored UH's first run and Garcia followed with an RBI ground single to center. A throwing error by the center fielder on the play brought in another run and moved Garcia to third. A balk by Routt brought in the fourth run of the inning. It was the only time the UH hitters adjusted to the pitcher.

"Then we went back to struggling with the off-speed and the breaking balls," Trapasso said.

The Bulldogs chipped away against Klein with single runs in the third and fourth innings to pull to 4-2. Ryan Duffy's two-run home run to right-center with two outs off Klein tied the game at 4 in the sixth.

The Rainbows will have to deal with yet another left-hander in today's 1:05 p.m. game. The Bulldogs will start Forrest Moore (2-0) against UH's Jared Alexander (0-0), who will make his second start of the season.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.