For the second time in the series, Long Beach State used a late rally to beat Hawai'i, 8-4, yesterday to complete a three-game non-conference baseball series sweep.

The Dirtbags (9-2), ranked ninth, 10th and 11th in three different polls, sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run seventh to win their seventh in a row. It was another blow to the Rainbows (5-9), losers of six consecutive, their longest drought since 2005, when they had a seven-game skid.

The series was a tale of one team that showed why it's in the top 10 and of another figuring a way to get there.

"That was the first game, I felt, we played how we expected them to," LBSU coach Mike Weathers said. "We did a lot of things, clutch hits, driving in guys with two outs, got key hits when we needed to."

In other words, the Dirtbags did what top-10 teams do.

"In the whole scheme of things, there isn't any question we got better this weekend," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "We played a top-10 team and, frankly, we had the lead late in two of the games and we couldn't close it out. That's the difference between a top-10 team and where we are right now with a young club that's trying to find itself and trying to find somebody who will step up."

The five-run seventh showed the mettle of the experienced Dirtbags, favorites to win the Big West Conference. It also exploited UH's mound woes.

Relief pitcher Jayson Kramer entered his third inning of work (he got the last out in the fifth and pitched a scoreless sixth) by hitting Chris Nelson to start the seventh. After Nelson advanced to second on Danny Espinosa's sacrifice, Trapasso pulled Kramer for redshirt freshman left-hander Sam Spangler to face the left-handed hitting Shane Peterson.

Spangler's first pitch went for a passed ball that sent Nelson to third, where he scored on Peterson's single to center to pull LBSU to 4-3. After Spangler hit Ted Lemasters, he was replaced by freshman right-hander Alex Capaul to face the right-handed hitting Taylor Krick. Capaul walked Krick to load the bases. Capaul was yanked after giving up an RBI single to John Hill and a two-run single to Jason Corder that put LBSU ahead, 6-4.

Senior right-hander Josh Schneider replaced Capaul and struck out Jason Tweedy, but walked T.J. Mittelstaedt to load the bases. He then gave up an RBI single to Nelson before striking out Espinosa to end the inning.

The Dirtbags added a run in the eighth.

"A lot of our young guys have to toughen up," Trapasso said. "It's not about how hard you throw. It's about where you throw the baseball. When they do that we're going to be pretty good. They're going to do it because we've seen it (in practice). But it's frustrating while you're working on developing, growing and maturing to dropping games you have a chance to win against a great club."

Harrison Kuroda got the surprise start for UH yesterday. Scheduled starter Matt Daly wasn't available because he threw 4 1/3 innings of relief Friday.

"I didn't know I was starting until I got to the field today," said Kuroda, a junior whose career had been hampered because of a dislocated shoulder he suffered in the summer of 2004.

In his first career start, he kept the Dirtbags off the board for 4 1/3 innings.

"I thought he was a great choice against us because of what we've shown them," Weathers said of Kuroda. "We were very impatient on the ball down and he did a good job of keeping the ball down."

Kuroda nearly made it through the Long Beach lineup two times. After striking out Hill to start the fifth inning, Corder reached on a single to short. Kuroda then walked the next two batters to load the bases. Trapasso visited Kuroda and left him in to face Nelson, who hit a two-run single to pull LBSU to 4-2.

Kuroda struck out Espinosa, but walked Peterson to reload the bases. Trapasso said he wanted to give Kuroda a chance to go five innings to qualify for the win. But 73 pitches were enough for someone making only his fifth career appearance in three seasons. Kramer was summoned and got the third out.

"My mechanics started to falter," Kuroda said. "I started getting ahead of myself. I got the strikeout against the shortstop (Espinosa), then I think I got a little ahead of myself. I thought I was out of the inning."

The Rainbows jumped on LBSU starter Jake Thompson for four runs in 4 1/3 innings. Vinnie Catricala's two-run single in the first and Alex Myers' two-run double in the third gave UH a 4-0 lead. Myers started at first base for Kevin Macdonald, who tweaked his heel Saturday night.

David Roberts (1-0) picked up the win with 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

"It kind of takes a toll on us, but close losses goes to show how good we can be and how good we are," Catricala said. "We just have to keep coming out here fighting."

The Rainbows get back to action tomorrow with a two-game series against Alabama-Birmingham (6-7), which took 2 of 3 at UH-Hilo over the weekend.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.