Hawai'i opened its Western Athletic Conference season with a blast last night.

Evan Zimny's three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth with one out rallied the Rainbows by Nevada, 5-3, before 1,678 elated fans at Les Murakami Stadium.

"That was amazing," Zimny said. "Unbelievable feeling."

It was an amazing comeback for the Rainbows (20-8 overall, 1-0 WAC), who had few answers for Nevada starter Ryan Rodriguez (3-4), who kept them at bay 8 1/3 innings with command of his fastball, curve and changeup. They were fortunate because they made their share of mistakes early in the game that kept them behind. But it was a mistake in the bottom of the ninth by Nevada (14-13, 0-1) that aided the rally.

In the bottom of the ninth against Rodriguez, Justin Frash hit a fly to left-center, where left fielder Matt Suleski and center fielder Jason Sadoian converged. In what appears to have been a miscommunication, Sadoian dropped the ball for a two-base error. Frash then scored on Brandon Haislet's ground single to left to pull UH to with 3-2.

Kris Sanchez then grounded to short to force Haislet at second, but Rodriguez walked Eli Christensen on four pitches to put the winning run on base. Nevada coach Gary Powers then lifted Rodriguez for Kody Keroher, the team's saves leader with three. He got ahead 1-2 on Zimny after four pitches before the left-handed swinging right fielder got hold of a slider and pulled it high into the air and watched it sail over both walls. The Rainbow bench rushed to the plate to greet Zimny and the crowd gave Zimny a long ovation.

"It felt perfect when I hit it," the JC transfer said of his first home run of the season.

His teammates were ecstatic.

"The whole bench went crazy," UH reliever Jayson Kramer said. "I think Frash called the shot before he even hit it."

Kramer (3-0) played a crucial role, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, striking out four and walking one. He came in for Matt Daly, who also pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for starter Ian Harrington (three runs, seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings). Kramer came in with a runner at first and one out, striking out Shaun Kort before walking Suleski and then striking out David Ciarlo to end the inning. He pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two, to keep the game within striking distance to set up UH's comeback.

"The preseason prepped me well," Kramer said. "I was used to to it, coming in with runners on base. I just had to throw strikes, make them swing the bat."

It was a great outing for Daly as well. He inherited runners at second and third with two outs and struck out Ciarlo to strand the runners. In the seventh, he gave up a lead-off triple to Chris Siewart, but got Sadoian to foul out to first and struck out Jason Rodriguez and Konrad Schmidt to snuff out the threat.

"It felt great," Daly said. "Last weekend was kind of rough with seven walks. I really tried to overcome that."

The Wolf Pack took it to the Rainbows early. Harrington started the game by hitting Sadoian with a pitch. Two outs later, Terry Walsh singled to put runners at first and second. On a 2-2 pitch, the right-handed hitting Daniel Eastham went with the pitch, drilling a two-run double to right to give Nevada a 2-0 lead.

The Rainbows, though, squandered a golden opportunity in the third. Zimny led off with a walk and reached second when Landon Hernandez singled to left. But Jorge Franco fouled off two bunt tries and eventually struck out. The Rainbows put the runners in motion with Jon Hee, a good contact hitter, at the plate, but Rodriguez threw an unhittable low and away pitch that Hee swung and missed and Hernandez was caught stealing second for the second out. Hee then grounded out to end the inning.

Hawai'i's troubles continued in the fourth. Derek DuPree led off with a triple that was basically a misfortune against Nevada. Left fielder Suleski was playing near the foul line, apparently in perfect alignment to catch DuPree's fly. But Suleski slipped on the wet turf and the ball fell in. Frash's ground out to first scored DuPree to pull UH to 2-1. Haislet walked and stole second. Sanchez flied out to center, but Haislet apparently thought there were two outs and kept running and was easily doubled off second to end the inning.

The Wolf Pack added a run in the sixth off Harrington with two outs in the sixth to make it 3-2.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.