Marcus Moore pitched a gutsy, but not uncommon performance, to spoil Hawai'i's home finale in Utah Valley's 2-0 win last night to take two of three games in the non-conference collegiate baseball series.

Moore (10-5) fired a three-hitter, surviving five walks, including two in the bottom of the ninth, to make a thriller of an ending for the Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,917, the largest of the season. He struck out four, including the last two to end the game.

"Marcus Moore is a great competitor and it's just great to have that opportunity," said Wolverines' coach Steve Gardner, who announced earlier in the year that this, his 18th season, was his last at the Orem, Utah, school. "He's been throwing a 130, 140 pitches every game. He was about right there."

Moore finished at 144 pitches. Even though pitching coach Eric Madsen paid a visit to him after the two ninth-inning walks, there was no one warming up in the pen. It was his game to finish.

"I was just trying to get it in there and make them get themselves out," Moore said. "I was fortunate that the last two guys were swinging at the slider. That helped a lot."

It was especially rewarding to Moore because it was his coach's last game.

"You always want to go out there and win it for your coach, especially like this," Moore said. "It's in Hawai'i, it's a shutout and it's a big win for us."

Meanwhile, it was bittersweet for the Rainbows (27-29), who will now focus on the upcoming Western Athletic Conference tournament. The Rainbows will be either the third or second seed, pending the outcome of today's San Jose State-Nevada game. If Nevada loses, it will be tied with UH at 18-14, but the Rainbows get the second seed by winning three of four during the regular season. That means UH will play at either 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., HST, in Thursday's opening round.

"You just tip your hat to Moore and you just gotta put this behind you and get ready for the WAC tournament," UH coach Mike Trapasso said of last night's loss.

Matt Daly (5-4) got the start for UH, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, three hits and seven walks to match seven strikeouts. Noticeably different was that Daly did not use the toe-tap that he had been using several weeks ago to aid his control.

"He wanted to do his own thing and was not successful with it," Trapasso said. "But we need him to pitch well next week in the tournament. Toe-tap or no toe-tap, we need him to throw strikes, unlike he did tonight."

"I was trying to go back to my old roots," Daly explained. "Honestly, not to make excuses or anything, but I felt the umpire was very inconsistent. It was kind of hard, but it was the same way for both sides. That was frustrating, but I definitely did the job in keeping our team within scoring position."

Daly, who struck out the side in the first inning, said he will stay with his style in the tournament.

The Wolverines took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a squeeze by Jake Rickenbach with runners at the corner. In the sixth, Tyler Garretson beat out the relay to first on a grounder to second for a force at second with runners at the corners.

Cory Kahn added 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Jayson Kramer tagged on 2 1/3 scoreless, but Moore wouldn't let the Rainbows rally.

Despite the loss, the Hawai'i fans hung around to watch the nine seniors — shortstop Jon Hee, outfielders Ryan Asato, Derek DuPree, Brandon Haislet and Evan Zimny and pitchers Kahn, Nick Rhodes, Josh Schneider and Cameron Wheeler — receive their plaques and lei. They got more lei from fans.

"It's sad," Hee said. "The fans are still supportive over here. You can't get any better than this."

"We've always had good fans," DuPree added. "They're always into it, always supporting us."

Hee and DuPree have been in the program the longest among the seniors. Each entered in 2004, redshirting their first year. Both played vital roles in the 2006 season, when UH made the regionals.

Asato, the next most-tenured Rainbow at four seasons, was robbed of a single in the seventh when his line drive went off the tip of second baseman Ryan Jones' glove. But Jones was able to recover and throw out Asato, who has been battling hamstring problems all season. He said he kind of tweaked his hamstring on the play.

"It was fun," he said. "That's four years of my life I wouldn't trade for the world."