Hawai'i got that sorely needed quality start from Ian Harrington in a 7-2 win against Louisiana Tech yesterday to take 2 of 3 in the Western Athletic Conference baseball series.

Harrington (6-5) fired his first complete game of the season and his first since his back-to-back outings last year against Tech in the WAC tournament and Wright State in the regionals. He allowed two runs, five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.

"I told him before the game today, 'Ian, you have to be our guy,' " UH first baseman Kris Sanchez said. "He stepped up in a huge way and carried the whole team today."

The win, before 1,773 at Les Murakami Stadium, did more than give UH the series and keep it within striking range of the teams in front of them. The team showed its resolve after Saturday night's heart-breaking, 10-9, loss in which it stranded the tying run on third after Eli Christensen led off the inning with a triple. The Rainbows buried that loss and came out swinging.

"You can't say enough about our club after (Saturday) night," Trapasso said. "I don't know how our kids felt. That maybe was the toughest lost I ever endured in 19 years of coaching, the way the game went and the way we pitched.

"To have Ian pitch a gem, he pitched for the whole pitching staff. He put the whole pitching staff on his shoulders and picked our whole team up. The credit goes to these kids for their character, beginning with Ian."

The Rainbows (27-16 overall, 8-7 WAC) entered the series three games behind Tech (30-16, 10-5). Hawai'i is still out of first by three games, but behind Fresno State (11-4), which swept New Mexico State over the weekend. Idle Nevada (7-5) stayed in third, while UH is fourth.

"People have been saying the starting staff has been struggling a little bit, but that's baseball," Harrington said. "All the components can't be there every game. I felt today I just had to go after hitters, be aggressive, throw all my pitches for strikes and it worked out for me."

Harrington said all his pitches worked well. After a two-out, RBI single by Jericho Jones in the fifth that pulled Tech to 5-2, Harrington retired 13 of the last 15 batters.

Harrington said he worked on his changeup on Saturday because he had problems commanding it early in the week.

"I found it and I felt like I threw it really well today," he said.

The Rainbows continued to hit Bulldogs' pitching, tagging starter Dylan Moseley (6-4) for six runs, seven hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings.

Hawai'i took a 1-0 lead in the second when Brandon Haislet led off with a walk and scored on Sanchez's double to right-center.

But it was beginning to look like the night before, as Tech tied the game in the top of the third when Brian Rike, whose homer provided the go-ahead run in Saturday's win, hit an opposite-field RBI single to left.

Hawai'i maintained its pressure on Moseley with two in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Justin Frash with the second run scoring on an error by right fielder Jones after the hit to put UH ahead, 3-1.

But unlike Saturday, Harrington responded with a scoreless fourth and the offense rewarded him with two more runs in the bottom of the frame on a run-scoring single by Landon Hernandez and later a wild pitch.

After Tech pulled to 5-2, UH tagged on two more runs in the seventh on Vinnie Catricala's two-run single.

Yesterday's crowd — the largest for a Sunday game this season — brought the series total to 7,885, the most this season.

The Rainbows are back on the road again with a non-conference game at Arizona State on Wednesday and on to a three-game WAC series at New Mexico State. They go to UH-Hilo May 3 to 5, then go to Nevada May 12 to 14. Their final home series will be against Fresno State May 19 to 21.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.