Landon Hernandez's lead-off home run in the top of the eighth inning lifted Hawai'i over New Mexico State, 15-14, today to complete a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep at Presley Askew Field in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Rainbows won the opener, 17-10.

Sam Spangler (1-3) allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings of relief. Jayson Kramer pitched 1· scoreless innings for his fifth save for the Rainbows (26-27 overall, 18-14 WAC), who end their conference season with a winning record.

Erik Nyquist (1-2) gave up Hernandez's home run for the Aggies (26-29, 13-15).

The Rainbows didn't take long to get on the board against Vendette, sending eight batters up in a four-run first. Matt Roquemore led off with a walk and Greg Garcia homered to center to make it 2-0. After Jon Hee grounded out to first, Brandon Haislet was hit by a pitch and Jeff Van Doornum and Kevin Macdonald each walked to load the bases. Vinnie Catricala's two-run single moved Macdonald to second and made it 4-0.

The Aggies cut their deficit in half in the bottom half of the first. With one out, Tyler Hardt singled off Slaat's leg and took third when third baseman Catricala fielded the carom and threw wildly past third. Slaats walked Joseph Scaperotta and Chris Auten to load the bases. A wild pitch scored on run and advanced Scaperotta to third, where he scored on Franky Busani's sacrifice fly to center to pull NMSU to 4-2.

New Mexico State added a run in the third. Hardt led off with a double and one out later took third on Auten's single. After a walk to Busani loaded the bases, Marcus Quade's sacrifice fly to center made it 4-3.

The Aggies caught the Rainbows in the fourth. Marquez led off with a walk, took second on Justin Lucero's sacrifice, went to third when Marcos Rosales grounded out to first and scored on Hardt's single to center to tie the game at 4.

Hawai'i regained the lead at 6-4 in the fifth with RBI singles by Haislet and Macdonald.

But the Aggies sent 12 batters to the plate in an eight-run fifth. Alex Capaul started the inning for Slaats, but got only two outs. Auten led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch before Busani and Quade walked to load the bases to set up Jeffery Farnham's sacrifice fly to center to make it 6-5. But Marquez's bloop single to left loaded the bases to set up pinch hitter Leo Aguirre's grand slam to give NMSU 9-6. After Rosales flied out, Hardt singled and took third on Scaperotta's double to right. Capaul was pulled for Cory Kahn. Auten reached second on second baseman Garcia's fielding error that let in two runs to make it 11-6. Busani's RBI single made it 12-6.

The Rainbows sent 11 batters to the plate to tie the game in the sixth. A two out error in the sixth cost the Aggies, as the Rainbows got RBI singles in a row from Hee, Haislet and Van Doornum and a three-run home run by Macdonald to tie the game at 12 against Vendette.

Hawai'i took the lead in the seventh, doing the damage with two outs. Hee doubled and scored on Haislet's single. Van Doornum's single moved Haislet to second. Macdonald reached on the third baseman's throwing error that allowed Haislet to score to give UH a 14-12 lead against Frankie Duran.

The Aggies wasted little time getting back. Rosales led off with a single off Kahn, who was pulled for Sam Spangler, who retired Hardt on a fly to center. But Scaperotta homered to center to tie the game at 14.

Hawai'i got the lead back when Hernandez opened the eighth inning with a home run off Erik Nyquist, who started the inning, to make it 15-14.