Freshman right-hander Matt Sisto pitched seven strong innings and Josh Slaats pitched out of jams in the last two innings and Hawai'i squeezed past Oregon, 3-1, today to advance to Sunday's championship of the Rose City Invitational at PGE Park in Portland, Ore.

The Rainbows (12-7) will play nemesis Portland at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The Pilots beat UH, 13-2, on Friday.

Sisto (2-1) allowed a run on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Slaats allowed three hits and two walks in two innings for his second save.

Bennett Whitmore (1-3) allowed three runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings for the Ducks (9-10).

In the bottom of the ninth against Slaats, Kenny Bartz led off with a walk and took second on a single to left by Caleb Tommasini. Both advanced on Curtis Raulinaitis' sacrifice. Mitch Karraker flied out to left with the runner at third holding. Colby Sokol grounded out to short to end the game.

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead in the second. Andrew Schmidt led off with a single, stole second and took third on Josh Hogan's sacrifice. Sisto struck out John Adamson, but Danny Pulfer's RBI single to right scored Schmidt.

The Rainbows responded with three in the top of the third. Ryan Morford led off with a single to right, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Greg Garcia's double to right to tie the game at 1. Kolten Wong singled up the middle to score Garcia to put UH ahead, 2-1, and took second on the throw home. Vinnie Catricala's ground out to first moved Wong to third, where he scored on Kevin Macdonald's sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-1.

The Ducks threatened in the eighth inning against Slaats, who started the inning for Sisto. With two out, Andrew Schmidt and Josh Hogan singled in succession and pinch hitter Anthony Kreitz walked to load the bases. But Danny Pulfer was called out on strikes to end the threat.