Connor Little fired four perfect innings of relief to help Hawai'i down Centenary, 5-2, last night at Shehee Stadium in Shreveport, La.

Little (1-0) retired all 12 batters he faced when he entered the game in the third inning for starter Alex Capaul. Little struck out four for the Rainbows (19-18) in the non-conference game against the Gentlemen (17-15).

"I'm so happy for him because it's the best he's thrown for us this year," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He had good fastball command. He dominated. He was just really good and we needed that. Hopefully, he can build on that and help us down the stretch."

Capaul allowed an unearned run and two hits and two walks in two innings. Matt Sisto followed Little with a scoreless seventh and eighth, striking out two.

Harrison Kuroda entered the bottom of the ninth with a 5-1 lead for UH, but allowed three successive singles and a sacrifice fly that pulled the Gentlemen to 5-2. Lenny Linsky came in, walked a batter to load the bases, but got Jeff Schaffert to ground to third for a game-ending double play and his eighth save.

Little threw 46 pitches and could be ready for relief again by Saturday, Trapasso said.

The Rainbows jumped on Centenary starter Michael Tompkins for a run in the first on David Freitas' RBI single, and went up 2-0 in the second with the help of two errors.

The Gentlemen cut their deficit in half on David Perez's sacrifice fly.

Hawai'i got an RBI single from Pi'ikea Kitamura in the sixth to make it 3-1 and two more in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Freitas and RBI single by Jeffrey Van Doornum to chase Tompkins (1-3), who was charged with five runs in six-plus innings.

Hawai'i's Jesse Moore started at shortstop for the injured Greg Garcia. Moore was 1 for 3 with two walks.

"I was really happy for Jesse Moore," Trapasso said. "That's what it's all about, a guy who works his tail off all the time and waits for his opportunity. He played with savvy, got a bunt base hit, put the ball in play."

Garcia's return is still pending, Trapasso said. If Moore needs to pitch, Kitamura will move to short and Josh Chevalier would play third.

"We played better tonight, but we still had some execution situations that we've struggled with," Trapasso said. "We've got to do a better job of executing and manufacturing some runs."

Trapasso declined comment on his reprimand from the WAC regarding criticism of umpires from last weekend's Sacramento State series.