It was Nick at Night in primetime.

Senior left-hander Nick Rhodes pitched two-hit ball over 8 2/3 innings to lead Hawai'i over Fresno State, 2-0, last night to earn the Rainbows at least a split of the Western Athletic Conference four-game series.

It was the second consecutive shutout in the series by the Rainbows (9-13 overall, 2-0 WAC) — 18 consecutive innings the Bulldogs (8-12, 0-2) haven't scored — and third in a row spanning to last season's regular-season finale, when UH beat FSU, 1-0. It was UH's first successive shutouts since the season opening series in 1999 against UCLA (3-0 and 6-0).

There was high drama in the ninth, when Danny Grubb reached on a one-out, fielding error by shortstop Nate Young and when Danny Muno followed with Rhodes' second walk of the game. Gavin Hedstrom ripped a liner back to Rhodes that went off his glove and caromed toward second baseman Jon Hee, who threw out the batter for the second out, as the runners advanced. With the tying run at second, UH coach Mike Trapasso brought in Jayson Kramer, who threw two curveballs to get Erik Wetzel to bounce out to short to notch his third save.

The pitchers' duel between Rhodes (1-2) and FSU left-hander Justin Wilson (2-3) combined for 21 strikeouts and seven hits, and lasted two hours, 15 minutes before a crowd of 1,668 at Les Murakami Stadium.

"What a great college baseball game it was," said FSU coach Mike Batesole, back from his two-game suspension by the WAC because of a bench-clearing incident last week. "You don't see 'em pitch like that too often in Division I baseball. The difference was they got a clutch hit when they needed it and we didn't do it again all game long."

For the Rainbows, it was another great effort after inconsistent play in pre-conference competition.

"It's definitely a morale booster, a confidence booster," Rhodes said of taking a 2-0 lead in the series. "The dugout's been great the last two days. We're in the second part of our season right now. We just flushed everything from before. It's a new start. The energy in the dugout has been something special."

The Rainbows needed that energy because Wilson was battling Rhodes the whole way. Wilson went 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, five hits and four walks with nine strikeouts. The difference was a fourth-inning, two out, two-run home run by Brandon Haislet to right.

"It was fastball up in the zone," said Haislet of his third homer of the season. "I just tried to stay through the middle and made good contact."

Added Trapasso: "It was a good pitch. But (Haislet) let it get deep and did a nice job of hitting it where it was pitched."

"We know that he has good opposite field power," Batesole said. "We wanted that ball to be inside and he left it out over the plate. Give the kid credit. He stayed down on it, kept it on the barrel."

But the night belonged to Rhodes. He retired the first 11 batters before giving up a two-out single to Wetzel in the fourth. He struck out a career-high 11. Until the ninth, no Bulldog reached second or third base. Wetzel was thrown out trying to steal after his single. Nick Hom led off the sixth with a walk, but was erased when Tommy Mendonca grounded to second for a double play. Hedstrom singled with one out in the seventh, but was forced at second and Rhodes struck out Steve Susdorf to end the inning.

"I found a rhythm early and that was the difference in the game," Rhodes said. "I was able to throw to location. When I got ahead of hitters, I was able to go to my off-speed. (The) curveball was effective for me today. It was biting hard. (The) changeup was effective."

Rhodes was consistent in keeping his pitches down, netting 11 grounders, including one double play, for outs. Only two outs were in the air, both flies to center. Only one of them was hit hard, but center fielder Haislet hauled it down.

But the game got interesting in the top of the ninth. Mendonca hit a grounder wide of first that first baseman Kevin Macdonald went wide to field and threw to Rhodes covering for the first out. But Grubb reached on Young's error and was lifted for pinch runner Trent Soares and Muno walked after starting 0-2 in the count. Hedstrom then hit a liner back to Rhodes. The ball was hit so hard that it caromed to Hee, who threw out Hedstrom. At 107 pitches, that was the end for Rhodes.

"He was suffering from some dead arm last weekend," Trapasso said. "I had some reservations sending him out (in the ninth). We saw noticeable decline in his stuff from about the seventh inning, when he hit 80 pitches. It was from going 120 (pitches) against Long Beach (on March 8). He was still effective, though."

With Wetzel, who entered the game hitting .390, up, Trapasso went with Kramer, who has effective breaking pitches.

The series concludes with a 1:05 p.m. doubleheader.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.