After watching the action for the last two seasons, Mark Rodrigues finally got to be a part of it yesterday.

The junior left-hander out of Koloa, Kaua'i pitched in a game — OK, an unreasonable facsimile of one — for the first time since 2003 to help Hawai'i in a 15-1 win in the Alumni game before 482 at Les Murakami Stadium.

"I was just happy to get my feet wet," said Rodrigues, who transferred to UH for 2004 after two seasons at Los Medanos junior college.

"I feel like I'm a hundred percent, but I still feel there's a lot more I can get, strength-wise."

Yesterday marked 20 months to the day Rodrigues had Tommy John elbow surgery that shelved him for the two seasons. Scouts said his range was between 84 to 89 mph.

Rodrigues allowed a run on two hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He was lifted after 76 pitches because of a count limit used at this juncture of the season. Rich Olsen finished with 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts for the win.

"It was good to get Mark out there today," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "He's had a long wait and he's worked real hard to get his first outing. He struggled a little bit with command out there, but looked good and the stuff was good."

Rodrigues struck out the side in the first, while walking a batter. He walked Nate Thurber to start the second and issued a wild pitch that sent him to second. An out later, Thurber took third when Gregg Omori grounded out to second and scored on Danny Kimura's infield single to second.

To get as many participants involved, the Alumni used what amounted to a 12-man batting order. When UH made wholesale changes in the middle of the game, it had a 10-man order.

Also, because the Alumni had only one pitcher in Eugene Myers (four innings, 15 runs — 14 earned — 16 hits), the varsity's Justin Costi closed the game with four scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

"I thought Justin Costi was outstanding," Trapasso said. "His fastball command was as good as I've seen. He was throwing the ball wherever he wanted to. That was really good to see because he hadn't been throwing as well early in the spring as he was today."

The varsity scored a run in the first, two each in the second and third, and blew the game open when it sent 15 batters to the plate in a 10-run fourth.

Robbie Wilder and Justin Frash each had three hits for the Rainbows, who tallied 18. Joe Spiers, Jon Hee and Kris Sanchez each had three RBIs.

One of the more special at-bats came on the last out of the game. Ron Nomura faced the son of former teammate Richard Olsen. Nomura and the elder Olsen played their final seasons at UH in 1978. Nomura flied out to right.

"He's a spitting image of his father," said Nomura, a vice principal at Roosevelt. "I know he has a great breaking ball, but he kept challenging me with his fastball."

Trapasso used all 19 position players in the game, with one, catcher Kevin Fujii, catching Costi for the Alumni.

The Rainbows play for keeps starting Wednesday when they meet former Western Athletic Conference rival San Diego State in a four-game series. The Aztecs were picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference.

Steven Wright will pitch the opener for the Rainbows.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.