Francis Larson batted 3 for 4 with two RBI to back the strong pitching of Christian Bergman to lift No. 9 UC Irvine over Hawai'i, 5-4, today in the first game of a collegiate baseball doubleheader at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Anteaters (2-0) take a 2-0 lead in the four-game series with the win against the Rainbows (0-2).

Bergman (1-0), yet another preseason All-Amierca pitcher, went eight innings, allowing four runs (one earned), seven hits and a walk with one strikeout for UCI (2-0). Another preseason All-America pitcher, Eric Pettis, pitched a perfect ninth for his first save.

Nate Klein (0-1) allowed five runs, eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts in six innings for UH (0-2).

Larson had an RBI double, solo home run and triple, but was denied the cycle when he flied out to center in the eighth.

Klein's UH debut took a beating in the first. Sean Madigan walked on four pitches to start the inning and took second on a hit-and-run ground out to the pitcher by Ben Orloff. Jeff Cusick walked and Dillon Bell lined an RBI single down the right-field line to put runners at the corners with UCI up 1-0. Francis Larson's RBI double made it 2-0 and prompted a visit by UH coach Mike Trapasso. Ryan Fisher's two-run single made it 4-0 and was followed by another single by Casey Stevenson to put runners at first and second, but Klein got Eric Deragisch to ground to third for an inning-ending double play.

After retiring six batters in a row, Klein served up a solo home run to Larson in the third in increase UCI's lead to 5-0.

The Rainbows got the run back in the bottom of the third. Sean Montplaisir led off with a ground single to center and took second on Kolten Wong's ground single to center. Both advanced on Greg Garcia's sacrifice to the pitcher and Vinnie Catricala's sacrifice fly to left-center scored Montplaisir and moved Wong to third to pull UH to 5-1.

Hawai'i got a run in the fourth. Macdonald led off with a walk and took third when Christian Johnson reached on a fielder's choice grounder back to Bergman, who threw wildly to second for an error to put runners at the corners. Landon Hernandez's sacrifice fly to right scored Macdonald to pull UH to 5-2. Shane Hoey reached on a single to second as Johnson took second. Both advanced on Montplaisir's bunt to the catcher, but Wong popped to short to end the inning.

The Rainbows pulled to within one in the eighth. With two outs, Macdonald reached on shortstop Orloff's throwing error and Christian Johnson launched a monster home run to the street behind the second wall in right field to pull UH to 5-4.